Stargate Universe Season 3
by Commmander Nash
Summary: Stargate Command discovers a major piece of Ancient Technology, allowing them to launch an expedition to rescue Destiny's crew. But what challenges await this new crew ? And will they succeed in their goal ?
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

**Beta Site (P3X-224) – March 2010**

Alec Colson had been living on this planet for six years now. He had come here – through the Stargate – to hide from some nasty businessmen who wanted him dead. Back then, the planet had rough and untamed, except for a small camp of Quonset huts and tents that surrounded the Gate. In the time since, the planet had been thoroughly charted and sampled. But the camp….well, it was exactly as it was six years ago. And that the source of the argument he was currently witnessing between Colonel Frederick Jones and Doctor Nikita Aranov.

Jones was the military commander of the base, while Aranov – a crack archeologist – led the civilian side of things. Aranov wanted Jones to ask for better – and larger – housing. But the Colonel was approaching his retirement. And he didn't want to rock the boat this close to finish line. The result was a shouting match between the two. It wasn't first time this had happened. And it always ended the same way, with Jones pulling rank and torpedoing the upgrades. This time was no different and Aranov stormed off. Colson had been watching the exchange from the mess tent and shook his head.

"I presume the work on the new targeting scanner is stuck again." A female voice suddenly said.

Captain Jennifer Haley was the ranking military scientist. She led a small team of soldiers and airmen who were working on several projects. The most important of those projects, however, were here attempts to dial the ninth chevron. A Stargate could dial addresses of seven, eight or nine symbols – or chevrons – long.

A connection between two Stargates in the same galaxy, was seven symbols long. If you want to dial from one galaxy to another, you needed a eight symbol address. And an extra power source. Because dialing between galaxies required more power that the Gate's default power source could provide. (Said power source was located inside the dial-home-device, which was an alien pedestal with a control panel on top. The DHD's control panel was how you dialed the Gate.) And finally, there was one address that had nine symbols.

It required an insane amount of power and led to an alien spaceship called Destiny. Destiny had been built by the same people who had invented the Stargates. And thanks to some trouble with a group of smugglers called the Lucian Alliance, over eighty people were stranded there. Haley's team was one of several working on a way to get to the ship and rescue those people. Alas, from the look on her face, it was not going well.

"What makes you think I'm stuck ?" Colson said.

"You're peeling potatoes." He was. "You always peel potatoes when you're stuck."

"That's the problem of being on the base with the least funding and the least imaginative CO in the program."

Earth had several off-world outposts. Of those, the Beta Site was considered the least important. This was because it was the back-up of the Alpha Site, which was the back-up of Stargate Command back on Earth. Haley sat down next to him, took out a knife and joined him in peeling. (The base had sixty people, so there were plenty of potatoes to peel.)

"Well, Project Nine…." That was the code name of her efforts. "….is not going anywhere either."

"What were you trying to do ?" Colson was an engineer. A good one. Alas, Colonel Jones – the paranoid bugger – had forbidden him from working on Project Nine.

"Design a capacitor." Haley began. "I figured that would allow us to make regular supply drops without having to find a new power source. But without better computers and equipment, it isn't going forward. Were Nick and Jones at it again ?"

"Yes."

Before they could continue their conversation, the Stargate activated. Colson looked at his watch and frowned. Once a week - on Friday at 1600 hours – Earth dialed the Beta Site. All their reports for the week were then transmitted home. But today was Wednesday and it was 1217. So this was not a good sign. Suddenly, two people walked out of the wormhole.

~Oh, brother, this is not good.~ Colson's mind flashed as he recognized President Henry Hayes and General Johnathan 'Jack' O'Neill. The brass had apparently decided to pull an unannounced inspection. ~There's going to be fireworks.~ Colson thought. Then he went to greet their two visitors.

**Beta Site – A Week Later**

There had indeed been fireworks. Jones had ended up reassigned to a desk at the Pentagon, while his second-in-command had been promoted to base CO. Captain Claus Anders had served on Atlantis from the start of the expedition until 2007. He had never been at the heart of things, but he had done his job well. So he had been promoted to his post on the Beta Site.

And now that he was in command of the place, he had some major changes in mind. To begin with, he had reassigned Colson to Project Nine and arranged for the targeting scanner project to be moved to the Gamma Site. Then he had taken a critical look at the budget for Beta Site maintenance. It had revealed that the budget was indeed no river of money. But Colonel Jones had been so cheap during his command, that there was a small lake of funds. And Anders was now draining that lake.

The Beta Site was located in a flat clearing. They got her water from a small stream, which two hundred meters to the west. But during the rainy season, that small stream turned to a raging river. And about seven hundred meters to the north of the base, that river had cut a passage through a large mountain.

What made that so interesting, was that it wasn't just as central passage. But also several side chambers. And Anders was using their budget to turn the central passage into a sealed pipe. Once that was done, they would be free to move the base into those side chambers. But before they did that, Aranov wanted to check them for artifacts. So now Aranov, Colson and Hailey were exploring the side chambers together.

"You do know that we haven't found a single artifact on this planet." Hailey began. "Ever."

"I know, but Colonel Jones never allowed us to explore a single cave." Aranov said. "Ever."

"We scanned them."

"That's not the same and you know it."

Up until now, the chambers had been domes, which had been connected by narrow passages. But as they had spoken, they had walked into a square space. The whole thing felt very unnatural. Aranov's green eyes went wide as he took in the place. He simply couldn't believe it. This led to him not looking where he was going. In the middle of chamber was a round slab of stone. He wandered onto it. There was a soft hum, followed by a flash. When it faded away, Aranov was gone.

"Nick !" Colson said.

"That was a transporter."

Colson ran onto the slab, followed by Haley. The hum was heard again and they dissolved in the transporter beam. When it faded, they were in a dark chamber. As their eyes adjusted, they spotted a crack of light. Haley took out a flashlight and turned it on. The crack was between a set of doors. The doors appeared to be Ancient. The Ancients were the race who had invented the Stargates and build Destiny. As they approached the doors, they slowly slid open. Beyond them was a balcony, where Aranov was taking in a view.

"Nick, are you okay ?" Colson said.

"I'm fine." Aranov said. "But you should see this."

The two of them joined Aranov at the balcony. Colson let out a whistle. Beyond the balcony was a massive cave. And in that cave – apparently in pristine condition – sat a city. An Ancient City.

**Ancient City – Two Months Later**

Millions of years ago, the Ancients had built a city called Atlantis. But Atlantis was not just a city, it was also a spaceship. What the Ancients had done with that ship was a long story, but that didn't matter to Aranov. What did matter, was that before they had built a full sized flying city, the Ancients needed to figure it all out. So they had begun with building a flying tower. The first one had been only five floors, the next seven, the one after that nine, and so on. And the cave was where the Ancients had stored all those prototypes.

But that was not the end of story. Because these towers were not exactly the same as those that made up Atlantis. Before getting settling on a final style and systems package, the Ancients had experimented. So when they had been build, some towers had lacked some stuff. While others had things not found in the final product. And tower seven – the last one before the Ancients – had come with repair Nano-probes. Which were tiny repairs robots. In fact, they were so small that you couldn't even see them with the naked eye.

The Ancients had not used them on Atlantis because they were to slow and too difficult to program. But when they had abandoned the prototype and shut everything, they had made mistake. They had missed some of the nanites. The tiny robots had set to work, bringing the rest of their brethren back on-line and maintaining the towers. This was why the towers will still around. There was no doubt in Aranov's mind that without them, the prototypes would have collapsed into dust long ago. At the moment, however, he was more interested with exploring the towers.

"They're mostly empty shells." He noticed as he and Major Anders opened up a room. "A couple of full established rooms to run diagnostics, control the experiments and live in."

"So they are not very useful ?"

"No really." Aranov said. "They're not meant for permanent habitation. We found one or two labs that were used for long-term research. But nothing big."

The room they were in now was a lobby, which led to a balcony and another room. Aranov opened the room. What he saw inside, made him gasp. The room was a lab. And in the rear of the lab was a stasis tube. He had seen Ancient stasis tubes, but this one was nothing like those designs. And it was active. Anders saw the tube and asked the one question that mattered.

"How the hell did he get in there ?"


	2. Chapter 1

1 – Back Then

(Philippi – Street – 12 BC)

Centurion Marcus Valerius grinned at he walked towards his father's house. His sister Octavia was chasing his nephew Gaius the Younger. He figured the boy was supposed to go do his studies, but rather wanted to play. Marcus had been like that at his age, but his mother would always catch him and drag him along. As he entered the house and gave his cloak to one of the house slaves, Octavia nabbed the little rascal and took him away.

"Father, I am home."

Gaius Valerius the Elder was in the garden, but came at the sound of his son. He was an older man, with grey hair and sharp blue eyes. In his young days, he had been a soldier. He had never climbed the ranks, because of his inability to read and write. But because he had been smart with his spoils, he had amassed a small fortune. And when he had been allowed to retire after Battle of Philippi, thirty years ago, had been able buy his family a house. Two weeks later, Marcus had been born. And a year after that, Octavia had joined the family.

"My son, the centurion." Gaius said with a huge smile. "I am proud of you, my boy."

"You and mother taught me well." Marcus said. "Speaking of which…."

"She's in the kitchen, preparing the evening meal."

Marcus went into the kitchen. Attitia Valerius and two of the house slaves were working. When she saw him in his armor, his mother grinned. How she had ever ended up married to his father, was still a mystery to Marcus. As a young girl, his mother had been send by her parents to work as a servant for one of the richer families in Rome. She had used the opportunity to sneak into the house library to try to figure out reading and writing.

One day, she had been caught by the owner of the house. Instead of punishing her, the man had given her lessons. She had passed that knowledge on to Marcus, while his father had taught him everything he knew about soldiering. Armed with these skills, he had joined the army and made his way up the ranks. Until – today – he had been made centurion.

"So, did they give you good troops ?"

"I got seventy-two men, fresh out of training."

"Sounds like you have a great deal of work ahead you, my son."

"Yes, I do."

Suddenly, there was a ruckus outside. Marcus and Attitia left the kitchen to find one their female slaves in tears. After his retirement from the army, his father had used the money that had not gone into the house, to buy several slaves. By clever trading – and the grace of the Gods – he had increased his fortune to the point where the Valerius family could own and maintain four slaves….two women and two men. The Gods had then blessed the slaves with seven children. The female slave was crying because her youngest – Antonius – had fallen down a well. Marcus did not waste any time. He removed his armor and helmet as he made his way to the well. When he got there, it was clear what had happened. A piece of the well had collapsed, taking the boy with it.

"Cursed Nero."

Nero Gaius Octavius was the governor of the town. He was extremely cheap on town maintenance. Had he not been so, the well would have not collapsed. Marcus carefully climbed down the well. When he reached the bottom, he found the boy. He was in bad shape. Marcus gently picked him up. With the boy on his back, he navigated his way back to the surface. When he got there, a crowd was waiting. Two men – clearly doctors from their attire – took the boy from his and spirited him away in the direction of the Valerius home.

While the crowd talked and gossiped, Marcus collected his helmet and armor and headed home. He not rescued the boy for glory, but simply because it had been the right thing to do. He heard some people complain about him saving a slave. It made anger flare in his chest. ~Vile, arrogant fools.~

Marcus knew that they had been blessed by the Gods. If they wished it so, they could have made the Roman the slaves of the Greeks, instead of the other way around. So Marcus always treated the house slaves well. When he walked into the house, the doctors were busy treating the boy. (Gaius the Elder had assured them he would pay the bill.)

"Well done, Marcus." His father said.

"Thank you, father." He washed his hands in a bowl of water at the door. "Will he make it ?"

"These Greeks doctors know what they are doing. Unlike that arrogant fool Magnus." Doctor Magnus was the ranking Roman healer for the town. Gaius the Elder did not consider him competent. "I think he stands a fair chance."

"Good." Marcus dried his hands. "I will be in my room, sleeping."

His father nodded. Marcus made his way to his room and lay down on his bed. Between the promotion and the rescue, he was exhausted. Soon, his mother would wake him for the evening meal and everything would be fine again. Or so Marcus thought….


	3. Chapter 2

**2 – Awakening**

(Tower Seven – Stasis Lab – 29 May 2010)

What Marcus didn't know what that he had never left the well. Instead, he and the boy had been teleported by an Ancient device buried deep underneath the town. It had relayed them to another, which had send them further along, until they had reached Tower Seven. There, they had been put inside a pair of stasis chambers. That had been over two-thousand years ago.

Aranov stood next to the stasis chambers. They had discovered the second chamber – containing young Antonius – further into Tower Seven. He had managed to access the logs for the chambers and realized that neither the centurion or the boy had aged a day. When he figured out why, he whistled.

"The pods have frozen them in time."

Colson and Haley were at the room's main control panel.

"We're going to have to be careful." Haley said. "If we get it wrong, they are going to age into dust."

"I think we should take the diver approach." Colson began. "Slowly reducing the power as we go." He punched up a screen. "There is an automated program for the job. But this thing was designed for Ancients, so…."

"…we put the function on manual and reduce it slower than the programs schedule."

It was at this point that Major Claus Anders entered the room. "How are things going ?" He said. "Are we ready to thaw our two ancient icicles ?" His voice grew serious. "And what about the psychological shock ? We're going to have tell them that over two-thousand years have passed. We're talking a major transition here."

"Yeah, I have an idea or two about that." Aranov said. "For now, however, let's deal with the physical."

"Do it." Anders said. "But I want Doc H and a full medical team in place before we dial power down one volt." Doctor Julia Henderson was the Beta Site's Chief Medical Officer. She was a top notch doctor from New Zealand. "We're not taking any chances."

"You're the boss." Aranov said.

Aranov took out his radio and began setting it up.

(Beta Site – Tent – 29 May 2010, Three Hours Later)

Marcus was asleep on his bed. Then he heard something and his eyes snapped open. ~What the….~ His mind flashed, as he realized that he was no longer in his room. In fact, this place was unlike any place he had ever seen. It was a tent, but not of any fabric he knew off. His bed was crude woodwork, but the mattress was odd. As were the sheets. The place was lit by several oil lamps. He examined himself and found that he was wearing a simple white T-shirt and a pair of pants which stopped at his knees. His uniform was on a nearby chair.

"Where am I ?"

He got to his feet. His legs were stiff, but operational. He made his way to the exit of the tent. Marcus stepped outside and gasped. Because he was seeing something impossible. There were two suns in the sky.

"No…" He shook his head. "….that cannot be."

But it was. His head swam. He closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. What he was seeing could not be. Yet it was. He opened his eyes and made his way into the tent. Marcus found his sword next to his uniform. He picked it up and went back outside. Looking around, he realized that his tent was part of some kind of military camp. His sword at the ready, he made his way to the center.

"Where am I ?" He muttered. "What is this place ?"

It was at this time that people came out of the tents. They all wore the same clothing – which Marcus figured was an uniform – and were carrying some kind of devices. And from the way they were carrying them, he figured these devices were some sort of weapons. They were yelling him in a language he did not understand. It wasn't Greek or Latin. They pointed the devices at him.

~Stay calm, Marcus.~

He studied the group. There were eleven of them. They were a mix of men and women. Some were white, others were Nubian and some had a color of skin Marcus had never seen before. Suddenly, another man came from one of the tents. He said something to the group and they lowered their weapons. Then he looked at Marcus. He spoke Latin with a thick accent, but it was clear enough to understand.

"Greetings, Centurion Valerius. I am Tribune Anders." He began. "Put your sword away and follow me. I have a lot to tell you."

He had no idea what else to do, so he lowered his sword and followed the man. The Tribune led him towards a large tent. Inside was a large collection of tables and benches. Anders sat on one of the benches and gestured for him to sit across from him, which he did.

"Tribune…." Marcus began. "….where am I ? The sky, it is…."

"….impossible ?" Anders said with a smile. "Centurion, I have a lot to tell you. And you will consider most of it impossible."

Marcus leaned on the table and listened as the Tribune told him of impossible things.

(Beta Site – Valerius' tent – 3 June 2010, 0800)

After the Tribune had finished, Marcus had returned to his tent. It was as if his head refused to accept what he had been told. He had spent the last couple of days hiding in his tent. At least here, the world made sense. The whole thing was insane. Two-thousand and twenty-two years….gone. How was he supposed to believe that ? His family, all dead. It made his heart heavy. Suddenly, there was a noise outside. He grabbed his sword and followed his ears. They lead him to the center of the camp.

Two soldiers were arguing. One of them was a blond man with green eyes, while the other was a black haired woman with brown eyes. The Tribune had given him a device which translated the other languages in the camp to Latin. It had taken him two days to figure the odd machine out, but now he knew how to operate it. He shook his head. ~It's like something from the myths, made by the gods themselves.~ They were standing next to a large weapon. The weapon itself stood next to a large ring. Anders had called it an Astra Porta, a Gate to the Stars.

"The schedule says that you were to clean it, Decurion." The man was saying.

"There was a problem in the caves. They needed my help. I simply did not get around to cleaning the weapon."

"No excuses, I want…"

Marcus cleared his throat and gave the two of them a stern look. "Are you two done ?" He looked at the female Decurion. "Decurion, clean the weapon." Then he looked at man. "You, help her. And no arguments. These kind of conversations are not good for unit morale. Is that clear ?"

"Yes, sir." The two of them said, before setting to the task.

He made his way back to his tent, pondering what had just happened. ~Two thousand years and still….~ He was not a part of their army. So they did not have to obey his orders. But they had, so maybe…..just maybe, there was a place for him in this world.


	4. Chapter 3

**3 - Getting Started**

(New York City, Apartment Building – Seventh Floor – 15 March 2016)

Major Marc Vale stepped into his apartment and put his groceries in the kitchen. For nearly five years, Marcus Valerius had spent his time catching up to the modern world. He had begun by learning to read and write English. Then he had spent a lot of time updating his military training and his knowledge of history. But in his mind, his greatest achievement was learning to fly. Much to his own amazement, he had turned out to be a natural talent. He had begun flying small propeller planes, but had quickly advanced to bigger models. (And even fighter jets, including the F-302 space fighter.)

It was this skill that led him away from the Beta Site and the Stargate program. In July of 2015, he had been put on loan to the Air National Guard and the 103rd Rescue Squadron. His job was to fly the squadron's HC-130 Hercules transport aircraft. But his training had included parachuting out of the plane. The first time he had done it, Marc had considered it insane. But now he considered one of the most normal things in the world.

He was unpacking his groceries when the bell rang. Marc frowned and went to open the door. It was somebody he never expected to see standing on his doorstep.

"Mister President ?" The President of the United States of America was standing outside his door. To Marc, it was like having the Emperor of Rome coming to see you in person. In the old days, there was a good chance of you being dead when he left. "What brings you to my humble home ?" He stepped aside to let the man inside.

"A job offer, Major."

The President stepped inside. His name was Robert Mackenzie. His predecessor had been called Henry Hayes. Hayes had become President in 2004, with a man called Robert Kinsey as his Vice-President. Shortly after, Kinsey had resigned. Mackenzie had been picked to take over the position. It was at that point that Mackenzie learned about the Stargate Program. And he had become a solid supporter of it. He had also helped Hayes land re-election in 2008. In 2012 – after eight years as Vice-President – Mackenzie had landed in the hot seat himself. At the moment, he was busy running for re-election. Which was another reason Vale had not expected him.

"Will you have a seat, sir ?" Marc said, while gesturing towards his small living room.

"Thank you, Major."

Vale followed Mackenzie, closing the door and locking it. Mackenzie was fifty-five years old, with green eyes and black hair. He was fit and had a sharp mind. Before entering the world of politics at the age of thirty-five, he had served in the US Navy. He had enlisted at the age of seventeen. Between these two careers, he had made a lot of friends. And it was very likely for him to get re-elected. But none of that was on Vale's mind as the President sat on his couch.

"Can I get you anything, sir ?"

"Got any cold beer ? It's been one of those days…"

"Yes, sir." Vale walked into the kitchen and quickly grabbed two beers from the fridge and two clean glasses from one of the cabinets above the sink. Then he made his way back to the living room. He sat down in a chair across from the President, while opening the beers. He put the glasses down and filled the President's glass. "So, what kind of job are we talking about here, sir ?"

"A command." Mackenzie sipped his beer. "We've figured out how to dial the ninth chevron, major."

"Why do I have a feeling there's a but coming, sir ?"

"That's one of the reasons why I want you for this job, major." Mackenzie began. "You're sharp. And there is indeed a but, Major. Have you ever heard of P2X-110 ?" Vale nodded no. He had never heard about this planet. "It's a planet that used to be on the border between Ra and Apophis' territories. And they both wanted it, resulting in multiple battles. I believe it was nicknamed Yo-yo Prime, because it kept going back and forth between the two System Lords."

It clicked in Marc's head. "I heard about Yo-yo Prime. It was the planet surrounded by a massive debris field. But I never heard where the field came from. I presume the debris was caused by the battles, sir. So what happened after the Goa'uld Empire fell, sir ? Who lives there now ?"

"Nobody." Mackenzie leaned back. "Which is why we moved the Beta Site over there and began using the debris to build a power source capable of dialing the ninth chevron. We finished it three days ago and are now running tests. The problem is that there are some who have reservations…." Mackenzie took another sip of beer. "….and that they might be right. This project is experimental and uses alien technology. Our best scientists – including Doctor Aranov and Mister Colson - estimated there's a twenty percent chance the whole thing might – literally – blow up on us. We need a Plan B. And that's where you come in."

Mackenzie reached into his chest pocket and took out a folded piece of paper, which he gave to Vale. Marc opened it to find a schematic of an Ancient tower.

"Is this the Ancient tower they found me in ?"

"No, we're calling it Nova Roma." Mackenzie said. "After you left, we discovered why these Atlantis prototypes never made it into the final product. The metal doesn't age well. It has become extremely brittle. One touch and it falls apart. Which is why the Ancients introduced the nanites. Eventually, the Ancients decided the nanites were too difficult to program. So, they figured out how to make a material that didn't need them."

"But we can't make this material."

"No, but it turned out the nanites could. So we merged all the towers together. The result is Nova Roma. A tower sized escape pod." Mackenzie paused. "Before we start dialing, we'll evacuate all non-essential personnel to Nova Roma. Only Colonel Telford and his team will remain." Colonel David Telford had been the planned commander of Destiny, a long time ago. But things had not gone as planned. "And I want you to be in command of the tower."

"I'm still not entirely clear why you picked me, sir." Vale began. "And what about Major Anders ? Or Captain Hailey ?"

"Claus Anders has recently been promoted to Full Bird Colonel. He's been reassigned to command of Deep Space Carrier construction. Major Hailey has been reassigned to Nellis Air Force Base. She is assigned to the development of the X-305." Mackenzie paused. "So, are you onboard ?"

"Yes, sir. But I still do not know why you want me in command."

"Because you skipped over two-thousand years of civilization and history without going insane. A command in the Stargate Program takes a special breed of leader. And a hop like that proves to me that you are a leader like that." Mackenzie stood up, as did Vale. He took out another piece of paper, which he also handed to Vale. "These are the details. And show up in dress uniform, Lieutenant-Colonel. We'll have to do the promotion ceremony to make it official."

Marc opened the front door. But there was still one question on his mind. "One last question, sir. Why did you come to ask me in person ? I thought one of the perks of being the President was that you had people to this sort of thing for you ?"

"True, but I was in town for a whole list of meetings. I needed a break." Mackenzie said. "Thank you for the beer."

"You're welcome, sir."

Mackenzie walked out and Vale closed the door behind him. He had a lot of work to do. But he had no intention of doing so on an empty stomach. So he went into the kitchen and set about making dinner.

(P2X-110 / Beta Site – Power Generation Room – 21 March 2016, 0639 Hours)

Vale had done his homework, so he already knew what the Beta Site looked like. But it was nevertheless an impressive sight. The George Hammond – one of Earth's warships - had just teleported him down to the surface. There were eight Goa'uld hyper-drive cores connected to a control section. The power conduits were laced with naquadah. This element was the material the Stargates were made off. It increased the power as it moved down the line. This was also the reason Nova Roma existed. If something went wrong, the naquadah could grow instable and explode with enough of a bang to wipe the base and anything within one-seventy-five kilometers off the map. And that was presuming the Stargate itself didn't detonate as well. If it did, the explosion would be many times more massive. Which was why Nova Roma was placed on the far side of the planet. As he studied the power room, he noticed Colonel Telford approaching.

"Colonel Telford."

"Colonel Vale."

"Very impressive place you've got here." Vale gestured towards the installation. "I can see why they put Nova Roma so far away. This really is a power house. How much power do you have to play with ?"

"We're not entirely sure. But at least eighty-five Goa'uld hyper-drive cores worth." Telford paused. "We've already dialed the Pegasus Galaxy twice. So the range is good enough for inter-galactic dialing."

The door to the room opened and Major Jennifer Hailey walked in. She was here to take a closer look at Nova Roma, hoping to learn things that could be put into the X-305. Seconds later, she was followed by Nikita Aranov and Alec Colson. Aranov and Colson were the two ranking scientists for Nova Roma. Colson and Hailey were discussing what appeared to be a rough outline of the X-305. (The 305 was nowhere near construction ready. But the first drawings were already being made.) Aranov was reading a book, while eating a sandwich. When they got close, Hailey closed the folder. She and Colson turned their attention to the colonels.

"Colonels." Hailey said with a salute.

"Marc, Colonel Telford." Colson said.

"Alec, Major." Vale said.

Telford simply gave the two of them a nod in reply. It was only then that Aranov realized what was going on. He quickly put away his book and finished his sandwich.

"This is not the mess hall."

"No, it's not." Vale began with a snicker. "So, everybody ready to get this show on the road ?"

"The technicians are running the final diagnostics now." Telford began. "Base evac will begin in twenty minutes, people. So make sure all your essential gear is packed and everything else is secured. Get to it."

"Yes, sir." Hailey said.

Hailey left, followed by Colson and Aranov. Vale and Telford also walked out of the room. Marc gave Telford a nod and ran to catch up with Aranov.

"Nikita, got a minute ?"

"Sure, what's up ?"

"Not here." Vale said. "We need some place private. Your office should do."

Aranov nodded and led the way.

(Beta Site – Aranov's Office – 21 March 2016, 0645 Hours)

On any other day, Aranov's office would have been a mess. The place was home to a large collection of books and artifacts. There were also several maps mounted on the walls. But except for the maps, all of that was tucked out of view now. Nikita sat at the side of his desk which the computer faced, while Marc sat across from him.

"So, what's bothering you, boss ?"

"They've been testing the power source for nine days now." Vale began. "I've read your reports on this rodeo. But that report is now nine days old, so I was wondering if you wanted to add something."

"Look, I'm no engineer…" Aranov took a deep breath. "…but I do know that Goa'uld math is a pain to translate. As are instructions manuals. All it takes, is one decimal in the wrong place and it all goes off the rails. And Alec IS an engineer. A very good one, as we both know." He paused. "Without him, there is no way we could have completed Nova Roma. I trust his judgement, boss."

"So do I. Was there anything off during the tests ? Anything that didn't make it into the official paperwork ?"

"No." Aranov began. "Telford was on top of any trouble."

"Okay, let's run through the plan one last time."

Aranov nodded and they got to work.


	5. Chapter 4

**4 - Departure**

(Nova Roma – Control Room – 21 March 2016, 0700)

The evacuation had begun on schedule. Marc was in the control room, watching as group of people materialized on what they had named the Arrival Platform. Said platform a round slab of metal at the bottom of a flight of stairs. The control room was at the top of those stairs. It was a pentagon-shaped room with controls panels that allowed them to run the entire tower. There had not been enough Ancient consoles for the job, so the place was a hybrid of Ancient, Human and Goa'uld controls.

But the crown jewel of the base was in the middle of the room. An interface – in the form of a special chair – allowing the tower to be flown. Nova Roma could not fly faster-then-light, but she did have excellent sub-light drives. If things went wrong on the other side of the planet, the plan was to use those drives to get Nova Roma to safety. Then they would signal the George Hammond for evacuation back to Earth.

Colson, Hailey and Aranov were amongst those manning the consoles. Vale would sit in the chair. For now, however, he was looking over Colson's shoulder. Alec was operating Nova Roma's Asgard Transporter, which was how they were emptying the Beta Site. He nodded and left the man to it. Micro-managing was not this thing.

"Sir ?" One of the other people manning the consoles said. "Our VIPs have arrived."

Captain Carl Grogan had served on SG-9 and later on SG-24. Vale had recruited him from there to seed several more experienced people in his very green security detail. He had quickly proved himself and been put in command of his own team two weeks ago. His team also included Sergeant Dusty Mehra, a female veteran from Atlantis. And she was not the only lady he had drafted from Atlantis. Nova Roma's security branch was led by Major Anne Teldy. Also recruited from there was Doctor Alison Porter. She was the second-in-command of the Science department. Hailey had offered her the leadership of the department, but she had turned it down. Marc made a mental note to ask her about why she had done so later, but for now, he had other things to worry about. He turned to Grogan.

"Give the Hammond the green light to beam them down."

There was a flash and President Mackenzie and General O'Neill appeared on the Arrival Platform. They were both wearing military fatigues. Mackenzie saw the room and whistled. The military personnel snapped to attention.

"At ease." Mackenzie began as the two of them walked towards the control room. "I like it. It's like Atlantis, but it isn't at the same time. It could use a Stargate though." He gestured towards the far wall. "It feels….incomplete."

"Alas, there was only one Gate to go around." O'Neill said as they reached the top of the stairs. "Colonel Vale."

"Mister President, General. Welcome to Nova Roma."

"So, how are things going ?" Mackenzie said.

"We're on schedule. The base will be empty at 0715 hours, we can dial five minutes after that, sir."

"Good." Mackenzie began. "That gives me ten minutes to take a closer look at this impossible chair."

He sat down in the Flight Control Chair. Or – as Marc was calling it – The Hot Seat. Vale and O'Neill exchanged looks, but didn't object. Mackenzie gave Vale a nod and the Colonel began explaining the workings of the Hot Seat. The President listened intently as Vale did so. After he finished, Mackenzie hit several buttons. A screen showing a panorama of the sky above the tower lowered.

"It's amazing." He said. "And this chair is a mix of Goa'uld, Ancient, Asgard and Tau'ri technology ?"

"Yes, sir." Vale said. "But I'm surprised you're calling it Tau'ri technology, sir. And not American technology, sir."

"This chair was build using American ideas, Russian ideas, Chinese ideas and a whole bunch of stuff we retro-engineered from alien gear. The American label just doesn't fit any more, Colonel. This chair is humanity's work." He paused. "Sorry, I sometimes get a bit poetical."

"I get that way myself sometimes, sir." Vale said with a chuckle.

"How does she handle ?"

"We've only taking her up twice to make sure the sub-lights work properly. We didn't take her out of the atmosphere, but she handle like a dream. And if the math is right, she can clear the atmosphere in twenty seconds."

"Sirs ?" Grogan began. "The Beta Site is empty. And we are ready to begin running diagnostics, sirs."

"Then I'll get out of this chair and let you get to it." Mackenzie raised the screen and stood up. "It's all yours, Colonel."

Vale took the chair and they set to work.

(Beta Site – Gate Room – 21 March 2016, 0720)

Colonel David Telford stood in the Gate Room and looked at the Stargate. Even after all these years, the Ancient device still impressed him. He turned around and gave the technician who was here to operate the Gate a nod. She was one of five people – besides his sixteen member team – who were still here. The other four were guards outside the Gate Room. There was a pause and then the Stargate began to move. A low hum – which was slowly growing louder – indicated that the device was now drawing power.

"Thirty percent of potential and increasing." She said.

"Stability ?"

"Ninety-five percent and holding."

The power continued to increase. It ticked past forty percent, then fifty, sixty and seventy. But when they reached seventy-five percent of potential, the stability indicator began to fall rapidly. For every percent more power, they lost five percent stability. By the time they got to ninety percent power, the stability dial was down to twenty percent. Telford rushed to a nearby console and increased the cooling of the power source to maximum. The stability dial only climbed five percent. Telford cursed and moved to a panel with levers, which controlled a series of emergency vents. He opened all of them halfway.

"Stability at thirty percent and holding." The technician said. "Power at ninety-nine point nine seven percent of potential, sir."

Telford looked at the Stargate, it was still dialing. He opened the emergency vents all the way and the stability increased to thirty-five percent. They were balancing right on the edge here. The Gate had locked the eighth chevron and was now dialing the last one. Telford held his breath. This was the moment of truth. After what felt like forever….the ninth chevron locked and the wormhole formed.

"Wormhole established. Stability at forty percent." The technician said. "Disconnect in fifty-two seconds."

"Move, people !"

The team made its way through the event horizon of the wormhole. Telford grabbed his backpack with equipment and ran towards the Gate. As he got there, the last member of the team went through. They were down to ten seconds. Telford gave the Gate Room one last look, then stepped through himself. Five seconds later, the Gate switched off.


	6. Chapter 5

**5 – A Desperate Gamble**

(Stargate Command – Conference Room – 24 March 2016, 0800)

Marc sat down at the conference table. Besides him, the meeting included Hailey, Teldy and Colson. They were waiting for Mackenzie, General O'Neill and General Landry. The three men entered the room and sat down. It was Mackenzie who began the meet.

"Okay, it's been three days and we haven't heard a peep." He said. "Colonel Telford and his team have just vanished. If they were aboard Destiny, they would have used the Ancient Stones by now." The Ancient Stones were alien communication devices which allowed people to switch bodies, even over fast distances. Telford's team had taken several along to contact Earth. "So, where do we stand on Plan B ?"

"We've been over every inch of the base." Hailey began. "And we've run every diagnostic we have. The wormhole was stable, the power held and the address was correct. Everything we have says that Telford and his team should be aboard Destiny. Doctor Porter and I triple checked all of it."

"I read your report." Mackenzie said. "Good work. But that doesn't tell us what to do next. Suggestions ?"

"The power source has been recharging slowly over the past three days. It's currently at thirty percent. We can try again in seven days, sir." Hailey said. "The problem is that we can't send a probe. Because radio signals will not travel through a nine chevron wormhole."

"The International Oversight Authority is still bickering about this situation. But I have no intention of just sending another team until I am absolutely sure that they will not die the second they step through the Gate." Mackenzie said. "Is there any other way to get data on what is happening on the other end of the wormhole ?"

"No, sir." Landry said.

There was an uncomfortable moment of silence. It was crystal clear that they were at an impasse. They could not send another team through the Gate, but leaving the mystery unanswered – and the crew of Destiny stranded – was also unacceptable. It was Vale who finally broke the silence.

"Then we'll just have to get there the old-fashioned way." He began. "Since it is millions of years newer, we already know that Atlantis is many time faster than Destiny. And if we fit Nova Roma with an Atlantis-class star-drive, she will be many times faster than Atlantis. We can make the trip in a fraction of the time it took Destiny."

"That's presuming the tower will hold together at those speeds." O'Neill said.

"Not to mention the fact that we will need ZPMs to power it." Teldy added.

"Actually." Colson said. "I have been thinking about that. We have a stockpile of depleted ZPMs." He leaned forward. "I believe we can use the Ancient nanites aboard Nova Roma to reset them. There is, however, one major drawback which has kept us from using this technology."

"Which is ?" O'Neill said.

"The reset ZPMs will be nowhere near the same quality as they were during their first lifetime. At full power output, they would last thirty days. That's presuming they are installed aboard Atlantis."

Vale nodded. He had read a report by a scientist called Radek Zelenka, which had said that it would take Atlantis nine days to fly from the Milky Way to the Pegasus Galaxy. So if Nova Roma was as fast as Atlantis, there was a good chance they could hop two more galaxies past Pegasus. It was Teldy who asked the obvious question.

"So, how long would they last aboard Nova Roma ?"

"That's an even bigger problem. The worst case scenario is sixty days, while the best is ninety-four."

"That's quite the gap we're talking about." O'Neill said. "So, how would you suggest we get around this little….hiccup ?"

"There's only one way. And you're not going to like it." Colson leaned back. "We're going to have to use our entire supply of currently depleted ZPMs. I believe the current count is twelve." He paused. "It's the only way this mission will stand a chance, sir."

"You right." O'Neill said. "I don't like it."

O'Neill looked at Mackenzie, who had been listening intently. The President knew this would not go over easy with the IOA and he understood why the General didn't like it. Nova Roma would be using three ZPMs at the moment, which meant four jumps. That meant Nova Roma would end somewhere between two-hundred-and-forty and three-hundred and seventy-six days away from home. Either way, it would be wise to cram over a year's worth of supplies into the base. But would there be room ? And there was a very real chance of the tower being stranded in the middle of nowhere. With very little or no supplies.

"It's an enormously risky plan." Mackenzie said. "There has to be a way to trim down the risk."

"We can install a Stargate…." Vale said, making everybody look at him. "…and make three hops. Then we use the last three ZPMs to attempt to dial the ninth chevron."

"You do realize that this whole plan is because we CAN'T dial the ninth chevron ?" O'Neill said.

"True." Vale said. "But if we're not at Destiny by the end of the third Hyperspace hop, whoever goes will be out of options. It'll likely be dial the Gate…" He paused. "….or run out of supplies and die, sirs. I know it isn't pretty, but it's this or give up on Colonel Telford's team and Colonel Young's crew." He looked at Mackenzie. "It's your call, sir."

There was another moment of silence, then Mackenzie made the call. "Write it up for the IOA. But I want it to be crystal clear that this a volunteer mission. And I want everybody to know what they are signing up for in advance. Full disclosure."

"Yes, sir." O'Neill said.

"Dismissed." Mackenzie said.

The look on the President's face made it clear that the man wanted to spend some time line alone. And Vale couldn't blame the man. He had just made a very difficult decision. It was at times like this that he was happy he was just a Colonel. Being a head of state meant that you often had the weight of the world on your shoulders. He walked out of the Conference Room and headed for the Mess Hall. He needed a drink.

(Beta Site – Gate Room – 7 April 2016, 0811)

It had taken a day to put the plan – which they had named Operation Deep Star – on paper. After that, the IOA had bickered about approving the plan or turning it down for several days. But four days ago – at 0730 – the notice had come in that Operation Deep Star had been green lit. And what had happened next, had been amazing. Everybody on the base had volunteered. It had made Vale very proud. But it had also made him think twice about volunteering himself. If he signed up, he would probably end up in command. And he was not sure if he was the right man to lead this operation. So he ended up in the Gate Room, staring at the Stargate.

"Still pondering, Marc ?" A male voice said.

He turned to see Alec Colson walking into the Gate Room.

"Yes…so tell me, why did you sign up ?" He turned back to the Gate. "Even if we make it to Destiny, this is very likely to be a one-way trip." If they managed to get Nova Roma to Destiny, the plan was to transfer the nanites to the starship. They would then feed the tower into the new matrix and try to repair as much of Destiny as possible. They were gambling on said repairs to allow them to dial home. "So…why are you going along with this desperate gamble ?"

"You do remember this desperate gamble is partially your plan ?" Colson said with grin. "But to answer your question…" He paused. "…because as much as I like to criticize the US Air Force, they do get one thing right…they never leave one of their own behind. And to me, giving up on those people is not an option."

Vale pondered that for a moment. And then realized that Colson was absolutely right. Even if Destiny had been empty, there would still be the folks aboard Nova Roma. Was he really going to abandon them to another commander ? He wondered what his father would say if he was here. ~They're your men and women.~ His mind flashed. ~The Gods gave their lives into your hands. Do not let go.~ If he was not meant to lead this mission, why had life brought him here ? ~Decision time, Marcus.~

"Thank you, Alec." He said. "I know what to do."

And with that, he walked out of the Gate Room to sign up. Part of him knew this was insane, but the bigger part of him knew that it was the right thing do. And he was going to listen to that part.

(Nova Roma – Control Room – 31 May 2016, 2357)

It had taken several weeks to refit Nova Roma with the hyper-drive portion of the star-drive. Next, they had added the Stargate. In order to make sure it was compatible, they had installed a Gate from the Pegasus Galaxy. The Gate also had a forcefield which fitted over it like a glove and would keep any unwanted visitors out when active. That done, they had loaded the tower up with as much supplies as they could. Which meant that the crew – of 103 people – had enough food for two years. The tower also had a water reclamation system and a hydroponics bay.

And now they were three minutes from launch. The Control Room was being manned by the senior officers. That meant Major Hailey on the Science console, Major Teldy on the Security, Doctor Pavel Gurkov – the base's chief medical officer – monitoring the crew and Sergeant Victor Leyton – the Chief of Maintenance – behind the Engineering console. Vale would be doing the flying.

"All systems in the green, sir." Leyton said. "Two minutes to launch."

"Thank you, Sergeant." Vale said as he sat in the Hot Seat and activated it.

The clock ticked down to one minute. Then past thirty seconds and finally ten. When the clock reached five, Vale began slowly applying power. Nova Roma's sublight engines engaged and she pulled away from the planet. The image on the viewer in front of the chair changed from the sky, into a field of stars.

"On course, sir." Leyton said. "Systems are stable. ZPMs are providing steady power. Ready to go to hyperspace." He hit several keys and a map appeared on the screen in front of Vale and the one at Leyton's stations. "Jump One course plot ready, Colonel."

"Here we go…."

Vale grabbed a small joystick, which controlled the FTL section of the drive. He jammed it forward and the hyperspace window opened. Five seconds later, the flying tower dove in. The tower shook and rattled. This was the moment the city either tore itself apart or held together….


	7. Chapter 6

**6 – Journey**

(Nova Roma – Control Room – 14 June 2016, 0817)

It had been two weeks and they were still in one piece. Things had settled down after their jump into hyperspace. And so far, they were on schedule. Vale walked into the control room and made his way to the Flight Control Chair. Nova Roma was on autopilot now, but there was always somebody monitoring. This shift, it was Alec Colson who was on duty.

"How is she holding up ?"

"All systems stable." He paused. "ZPMs are around 86 percent, which we are right on track for the ninety-four day option."

"Good." Vale began. "Alas, that will not help us keep sane."

Vale smiled and shook his head. After launch, things had settled into a routine. But Nova Roma was a barebones facility. And the crew had only been allowed to bring one personal item each. So the crew was – ever so slightly – starting to go stir-crazy when off-duty. Nikita had set up an exchange program to help relief the problem a bit, but there was only much they could do. And from the sound of it, they would still be buzzing along for another eighty days. Vale would have to come up some way to keep morale up. But he did not say anything about this to Colson. Because that would basically be shooting morale in the foot.

"That's your part of the equation. My job is to keep this tower on course."

Vale nodded and left Colson to his work. He had to come up with something soon… But for now, he had his daily duties to see to. So he made his way down to the Infirmary. The place had originally been a storage room. Doctor Guskov and his staff had managed to turn said room into a nice little facility with room for five patients. It even came with an Operating Room. At the moment, there were only two patients in the facility. Guskov noticed him coming in.

"Marcus ?"

"Doc ?" He began. "What happened here ?" He gestured towards the two patients. They were both female privates – Andrea Jones and Henrietta 'Hetty' McConnell – whom were assigned to the Maintenance department.

"Privates Jones and McConnell had a little disagreement with a stack of crates." Guskov began. "McConnell has a broken foot and Jones broke three fingers. Other than that, they have several cuts each."

"Prognosis ?"

"I've put splints on both of them. They'll be fine." Guskov said. "But McConnell will have to walk on crutches for a couple of weeks."

"Have there been any other injured ?"

"No, they are my first patients. A fact I am very grateful for."

Vale had used the time since launch to read up on his crew. Pavel Guskov had worked in Tomsk, which was a major town in region known as Siberia. He had been assigned to the Emergency Room, where he had seen a lot. There, he had also proved himself an extremely capable doctor. This had brought him to the attention of the Russian government.

And when they had needed a doctor to lead a medical team in Africa, he had been their first choice. The hospital hadn't been the best funded in the world, but it was in Africa that Guskov had truly learned the art of improvised medical procedures. He had operated patients in horrible conditions, with makeshift instruments. But he had never given up.

His file had impressed General O'Neill so much that he had gone to Africa and recruited Guskov to be the CMO of the Beta Site. The Beta Site medical staff had been a disorganized, badly trained mess. Under Guskov, they had become a top-notch team. There was no doubt in his mind that they could give many a hospital staff a run for their money.

"Carry on, doctor."

He walked out to the Infirmary. As he did so, he passed Victor Leyton and nodded at him. Victor Leyton had been drafted from the British Army. He had been in charge of a maintenance team in Nairobi, Kenya. It was there that he had met Doctor Guskov. After Guskov had been recruited, he had recommended Leyton for the Stargate Program. He had been assigned as second-in-command of the maintenance team at the Alpha Site. When he the ninth chevron project had come to the Beta Site, he had been promoted to Chief of Maintenance of Nova Roma.

He was the superior officer for McConnell and Jones. McConnell was the supervisor for the Hydroponics Bay. Like Leyton, she had been recruited from the British Army. McConnell, however, was from Scotland. She wore the Scottish flag on her shoulder, instead of the British one. She was no expert on botany, but she knew how to get things done. And she had four people who *were* botanists – all of whom were civilians – under her command.

Jones was the supervisor for the Mess Hall. Like McConnell, she oversaw a small group of civilians. And like Leyton and McConnell, she had been drafted from the British Army. Before she had joined the Army, she had been an excellent civilian cook. Then – at age eighteen – she had enrolled in the Army and ended up working in the Mess Hall. Both Jones and McConnell had been assigned to same base as Leyton. He had drafted them both into the Program after his promotion to Chief of Maintenance. Leyton and McConnell were both Caucasian, while Jones was African-American. Back when he had been a centurion, seeing a person of color had been rare. And the few that had been around, had been Nubian slaves. ~Those were very different days.~

Slavery was gone. It had taken him time to wrap his head around the idea. And the religious views had changed a lot. Christianity had not existed in his days, Islam would not be founded for hundreds of years and Buddhism was still unknown. While getting used to the end of slavery had simply taken time, the religious shift had been quite the punch in the stomach. He had found support in the form of Father Harry Gunderson. The priest had listened to him and given him advice. ~So, what do you believe ?~ Honestly – right now – he simply didn't know the answer.

Before he could ponder it further, he reached the last stop on his inspection tour…the main Science Lab. Alison Porter and Nikita Aranov were gluing together artifacts at the main table. Porter was working on a bowl, while Aranov had his hands on a vase. Vale frowned at the sight. The vase and bowl did not look very valuable. He reached the table and leaned on it.

"How is it going ?"

"Slowly, but steady…." Aranov began. "And because it helps to pass the time."

"What ?"

"You were about to ask why we are bothering to glue these pieces back together." Porter said. "We say the look on your face. These piece are common and not worth much. Except….they're from P2Y-101."

"P2Y-101 ?" He frowned. "I thought that was uninhabited."

"Which is another reason why we're gluing them back together." Aranov said. "We're hoping they will yield a clue once we're done. The place should have been a blank slate, but these…." He glued in another piece. "….prove otherwise."

"Well, keep passing the time." Vale said. "And let me know if they do yield anything, docs."

"We'll do." Aranov said.

Vale nodded and headed back out.

(Nova Roma – Control Room – 2 September 2016, 0758)

Vale sat down in the Flight Control Chair and looked at the clock. It was at two minutes and counting down. They had decided not to drain the ZPM completely, but to shot the drive down at exactly 0800 hours. The left over power would be used to increase the emergency power supply. Besides him, Colson, Hailey and Leyton were also manning the control room. He looked at the clock again.

"Thirty seconds." Vale said.

"This is going to be interesting." Colson began. "And probably not the smoothest ride, either."

"Yes." Leyton said. "I figured as much. Ten seconds and counting….Five…four….three…two….one….sub-light."

Vale cut power to the FTL-drive and Nova Roma dropped back into normal space. They were in a solar system and near a blue gas giant. He engaged the sublight drives at full power and turned the tower away from the planet. Once they were far enough away from the planet, he reduced power to a third. The plan was to spend the rest of the day at sub-light. They would use the time to get their bearings and take a closer look at…well, where-ever they were now.

"What do we have. Hailey ?"

"One red giant star and seven planets." Hailey said. "The gas giant we just dodged is number six. I recommend we enter orbit of number five. It's about the same size as Earth, but as barren as the Moon. We should be able to calculate our current position once we are parked."

"Orbit of number five it is."

Vale piloted the tower to the planet and put it into orbit. Then he left the chair and put the tower on autopilot. While another member of the crew hopped into the chair, he made his way to Hailey's console. The solar system they were in appeared to be a rather barren affair. Like Hailey had said, the planet they were orbiting was a dead world. The other planets were also looking pretty lifeless. The only place that had any promise was the third of six moons orbiting the sixth planet. It appeared to be the size of Earth. But the temperature was 50 degrees centigrade planetwide. And the scanners said the whole place was a giant desert.

"Thinking about taking one of the Puddle Jumpers for a spin, sir ?"

"I sure am." Nova Roma had two Puddle Jumpers at her disposal. These were small, cylindrical spaceships which fitted through the Stargate. He turned to face Hailey. "How long will the calculation take ?"

"An hour to lock down where we are and three to plot the next jump. We did a general plot back at the SGC, but we'll have to refine it a bit to make sure we don't end up off-course now."

"Good." Vale said. "I'm going to report in to General O'Neill and then we're going on a field trip." They had two Ancient Stones to talk to the folks back on Earth. "Should take Nikita's mind of PY2-101 for a while." Despite Aranov's best efforts, they were still no closer to learning who had left the artifacts on the planet. Or why. (They had – however – managed to pin down when the artifacts had been made.) "Keep the math and everything else going until I get back."

"Yes, sir."

Vale walked out of the control room. The communications room was a converted closet. There was a table, two chairs and the Ancient Stones. He sat down and put one of the stones on a flat device. He counted to three and then….

(Pentagon – Homeworld Security – 2 September 2016, 0805)

…found himself in the body of Colonel Cameron Mitchell. Finding the commanding officer of SG-1 on stone duty was quite the surprise for Vale. He would have expected Mitchell to be out and about exploring the Milky Way Galaxy. The door to the small office he was in opened and an Airman came with a mug of coffee. Vale figured he most have had a surprised look on his face, because the Airman frowned.

"Everything okay, Colonel Mitchell ?"

He snapped out of it and got up. "I'm afraid Colonel Mitchell has left the building. I'm Colonel Vale and I need to talk to General O'Neill." Vale pointed to the coffee. "Is that black, Airman ?"

"Yes, sir." He handed the coffee to Vale. "If I may….using the Stones for the first time, sir ?" Vale nodded and took a sip of the coffee. It was good. (Nova Roma only had instant coffee left.) "If you'll follow me, I'll show you to the General, sir."

"Lead the way."

He drank his coffee as the Airman led him to O'Neill's office. By the time they reach it, his mug was empty. The Airman nodded and O'Neill called for them to enter. Vale spotted a cart with file boxes on it and put the mug there. Then he entered the General's Office. Jack O'Neill was signing some paperwork as he did so.

"Please tell me you don't have more paperwork for me to sign, otherwise this conversation might get loud."

"Nope." Vale began. "One of the advantages of being a zillion lightyears away. No E-mail, sir."

O'Neill looked up. "Vale, that better be you or I'm going to yell anyway." He got up and walked around his desk. "So, how are things going out there ?"

"Well, so far Plan A is holding up. The tower is still in one piece and we're crunching the numbers for the second jump. We've even got some time for sightseeing. And yes, I know that we are not here for that. But after ninety-plus days in hyperspace, the crew is going stir-crazy, sir."

"So, you're planning a little field trip to restore sanity ?"

"Gotta start somewhere, sir."

"Good." He gestured to one of the chairs at his desk. "Now that you've given me the cliff notes, I want some details."

O'Neill went back to his chair, while Vale also sat down. The General began asking questions. As he answered them, Vale wondered how Colonel Mitchell was spending his time.


	8. Chapter 7

**7 – Meanwhile….**

(Nova Roma – Communications Room – 2 September 2016, 0805)

One moment, Cameron Mitchell was in the Pentagon. And the next, he was in a small closet. Based on the fact that the place was in the style of the Ancients, he presumed this was Nova Roma. Mitchell got to his feet and headed for the door, next to which was a small mirror. When he looked it into, he saw the face of Marc Vale.

"Cool."

He walked out and made his way to the Control Room. Jennifer Hailey was running the show. She was giving orders and running a some kind of calculation on a display. He took a closer look at the display and realized that this was the math on Nova Roma's position and course. Hailey looked at him.

"How did it go with General O'Neill ?"

"I'm afraid Colonel Vale is still in there. I'm Cameron Mitchell….Nice to meet you, Major." He gestured towards the display. "How's the math going ?"

"Right on schedule. Colonel Vale was planning…." That was as far as she got before there was an alarm.

Hailey hit several keys and the display changed. It now showed telemetry from the long-range sensors. There was an impossible spaceship approaching them. What made it impossible, was that it was an Ancient design. And – as far as Mitchell knew – the Ancients were all gone. So, how could this ship be here ? (Wherever here was.) Hailey hit several more keys.

"That's an Aurora-class Battleship." She began. "It will be here in less than an hour."

"Can we speed up the math ?"

"I'll see what I can do, sir." She took a deep breath. "But if they're hostile, we're going to need to all the firepower we have. That means the tower's own weapons and both Jumpers."

Mitchell grabbed a radio from his belt and called for Grogan to report to the Control Room. He had memorized the entire Nova Roma roster, including who had the Ancient Technology Activation gene. (Of the one-hundred-and-three people aboard, two people – Colonel Vale and Captain Grogan – had been born with the gene. Before launch, they had managed to artificially introduce the gene into the DNA of twenty-one people.) He had just gotten off the radio, when there was a beep.

"We're receiving a transmission from the Aurora-class ship." Hailey said. "Orders ?"

"I think you should do the talking." Mitchell said. "Me and Colonel Vale having switched, it might get….complicated."

Hailey hit a key and the channel opened. A human looking female was on the other end. She was Caucasian, with green eyes and short brown hair. Mitchell thought she looked like she was in her thirties. But all of this was speculation. Just because she looked human, it didn't mean she actually was human. The woman spoke. But her voice sounded odd. Then he realized she was speaking Ancient and that the computer was translating it into English.

"This is Captain Parron of the New Asuran Ship _Defender_, identify yourselves."

Hailey looked at Mitchell. The Asurans had begun as nanites created by the Ancients. They had been meant as a weapon against a race called the Wraith. After a while, they had begun to cluster together into more complex patterns. The end form of that had been them becoming humanoids robots. At this point, the Ancients had considered them a failure and tried to wipe them out. But the Asurans had survived and rebuild. They had developed a deep hate of humanity along the line. In the end, they had been wiped out by the crew of Atlantis. So meeting these New Asurans could turn nasty.

"This is Major Hailey of the Earth Vessel _Nova Roma_."

"Earth ?" Parron frowned and looked at somebody off-screen. After apparently getting confirmation of the translation. "As in the birthplace of Atlantis ? That is….impossible. The Ancients are….gone."

"We're not Ancients. We're Human."

"And you build this ship ? How is that possible ?"

"Yes and no. It's…complicated." She looked at Mitchell, who bit his lower lip and gave her a nod. "You're welcome to come over to talk about it."

"We'll get back to your on that." Parron said. "_Defender _out."

The channel closed. Mitchell was about to say something, but then….

(Nova Roma – Control Room – 2 September 2016, 0830)

The math was still running. But Hailey was only ten minutes from locking down their position. As for the _Defender_, Hailey had briefed Vale on the situation. The ship was now sitting just outside of weapons range. From the sensor readings, her weapons were not armed. Nova Roma was still in orbit of the planet. The weapons were not armed, but both Jumpers were ready to launch. (Grogan and Teldy were manning them.) Vale was sitting in the Control Room, watching the readings on the New Asuran ship.

He had been briefed on several species during his time running Nova Roma, including the original Asurans. They had sounded like a nasty lot. So he was well aware that this whole thing could blow up in their faces. He was about to zoom in when the New Asurans hailed them again. He looked at Hailey and nodded. She opened a channel. It was Captain Parron who appeared.

"We had to deliberate with the New Asuran Senate, Major." She said. "They have authorized me to send a party to your ship. If you approve, we will teleport them over."

"Go ahead." Vale said.

"You are cleared to teleport aboard, Captain."

"Thank you, Major." Parron said. "_Defender_ out."

The channel closed and two seconds later, there was a light and Captain Parron appeared. She was wearing what was clearly an uniform. It consisted of a pair of grey pants, a black T-shirt and a white jacket. Next to her was an older man. He looked African-American, with a grey beard and hair. Vale figured he looked like he was in his sixties. He was wearing a white business suit, with a black shirt underneath.

"Captain Parron ?" Hailey said. "This is Colonel Vale, he's the Commanding Officer for this mission."

"Major Hailey is the second-in-command of this base. I was busy reporting in to my superiors when you arrived."

"I understand, if there is one thing that is universal, it's bureaucracy. This…" She gestured towards the man. "….Is Governor Gerhard. He is the ranking official for Planet 7. He will be representing the Senate during these talks."

"Shall we go somewhere more appropriate ?"

"Lead the way." Gerhard said.

Vale led the way to a Conference Room. Originally, there had been a U-shaped table in this room, but it had been broken down and recycled by the maintenance nanites. The replacement was a large round table. It was made from wood and came with six chairs. They sat down at the table. Vale spoke up first. He told Parron and Gerhard about the Asurans and their conflict with the crew of Atlantis and the Wraith. Vale was not a diplomat, but a soldier. And that meant that he was not the kind to lie. He told them everything, including that they had destroyed the Asurans. After that, there was a tense moment of silence. It was Gerhard who broke it.

"Thank you for you honesty, Colonel." He pounded the table. "Blast ! Being right sometimes really…" He sighed. "I'm sorry, Colonel. It's not your fault…" He leaned back. "….after the Ancients tried to wipe us out and we became humanoid again, there was a schism. The majority hated Humans, but a really small group….just six of us, including me….disagreed."

"So, what happened ?" Hailey asked.

"They tried to kill us. But we managed to survive and stole a transport." Gerhard sat up straight. "We upgraded it and left for another galaxy. Now there are twenty-seven billion of us, spread over eighteen planets."

"Why did you disagree ?" Vale said.

"Because it was not the Humans who tried to wipe us out. Holding you responsible for what the Ancients did, it was just….wrong. How would becoming mass murderers of the innocent have made us better ? And what would that lead to ?" He paused. "You did the right thing when your destroyed the Asuran…or as you called them, Replicator….Homeworld. They choose their fate."

"So…what happens now ?"

"Now, I have to send a very unpleasant report back home. But, tell me, why are you here ? Are you trying to reach _Destiny_ ?" Vale and Hailey exchanged looks. "I'll take that as a yes. And yes…we know about the ninth chevron and the ship. As far as we know, it's the only…asset, that would warrant travelling out here."

"We have people stranded aboard _Destiny_ and no power source capable of dialing the ninth chevron." Vale began. "We found several prototypes of Atlantis' command tower. It took a lot of effort, but we managed to fuse them into one tower. We called it Nova Roma. It means New Rome. Rome is one of the oldest cities on Earth, which it is said was built on seven hills…"

"…and you fused seven prototypes." Parron said.

"Exactly." Hailey began. "But if you know about _Destiny_, why did you never claim it ?"

"We've tried to connect by means of Stargate…" Parron said. "…but our addresses were locked up. We eventually discovered that it can only be dialed from Earth or another planet in its galaxy. We also tried to get there by ship, but there was a major hiccup…" She looked at Gerhard, who nodded with approval. Parron took out a disk and put it on the table. "….called the Nakai." She hit a key and a blue alien with glowing eyes appeared. "They are obsessed with _Destiny_ and destroyed all three ships we send to claim it."

"Yeah, we learned that the hard way…" Hailey said. "….they kidnapped two of Colonel Young's crew and experimented on one of them."

Vale studied the image. The neck was thin and held up an oval skull that was slightly slanted. The crewmember they had experimented on was Chloe Armstrong. She and her father – who had sacrificed himself during an emergency aboard _Destiny _– had been touring the base when it had been attacked by an enemy called the Lucian Alliance. The attack had made everything go pear-shaped and was the reason the crew had ended up on the ship in the first place.

"So, their home galaxy is between us and the ship ?"

"Yes." Gerhard said. "Our ships travelled three galaxies further down the path, then we hit theirs. They've been chasing that ship for a very long time. Some of us estimate that they were at it when we arrived in this galaxy. And that was thousands of years ago."

"If I may…" Parron began. "….what will you report to your superiors ? About us ?"

"Well, if you were hostile, you could have teleported over a bomb. Or boarding parties to take the tower for yourself, so that you could use it to reach _Destiny_." Vale said. "And you could have blown us to pieces the old-fashioned way. So, you have several things going for you in the friendly department."

"Thank you, Colonel." Gerhard said. "We'd like to teleport back to the _Defender_ now."

"Major, lead our guests back to the Control Room and then let them teleport home." Vale began. "I'll be reporting this situation to the folks back home."

"Yes, sir."

Hailey and their New Asuran guests left, while Vale headed for the Communications Room. He would have to report to General O'Neill again. And this time, he was pretty sure that the General would not be very happy with his report. It dawned on him that this was another advantage of being a zillion lightyears away from Earth. It made it impossible for O'Neill to shoot him.


	9. Chapter 8

**8 – Unhappy General**

(Homeworld Security – O'Neill's Office – 2 September 2016, 0835)

"You did what !?" O'Neill yelled.

Vale was in the body of Airman Peter Collins, a redhead with green eyes. Colonel Mitchell was also there. The two of them were briefing the General on their encounter with the New Asurans and their short visit to _Nova Roma_. And like Vale had expected, the General was REALLY unhappy.

"You invited over a pair of Replicators !?"

"Well…" Mitchell began.

"…it was either that or start a shooting war with people who have never done anything to us."

"They're REP-LI-CAT-ORS !" O'Neill snapped. "They're a threat ! Simply by existing…."

"Really, sir ? That's your argument ? Because I seem to remember that not being enough for a certain Colonel. A Colonel who was sort of ordered to nuke a little planet called Abydos, but decided not to…. And then lied when he came back, to keep the innocent from being nuked…"

O'Neill made a face, but he was clearly no longer as angry as he had been before. Then he looked at Mitchell.

"And what do you think about this *fine* situation ?"

"I agree with Vale." Mitchell began. "The New Asurans could have taken the shoot first, ask questions later approach. But they did not." He looked at Vale. "And they probably have a whole fleet of Aurora-class ships, but they did not call for back-up. It could be arrogance, or it could be a sign that they are on the level."

"Could be ? Seriously…"

"General, I'm just saying we wait and see." Vale said. "Hailey is still crunching the numbers for the jump anyway. So, we use the time to find out if they really are as on the level as they appear to be. Maybe gather some extra intel on the Nakai…"

"And what, pray tell, do I tell the IOA ?"

"Nothing. Maybe there was a little hiccup and they don't hear about this whole thing until after we're back in hyperspace." He bit his lower lip. "There have been misplaced memos before, sir."

"Well, they are narrow minded, arrogant, Napoleonic…." Vale couldn't help chuckling. "….bureaucratic asses. Do it."

"Yes, sir."

And with that, Vale turned and walked out of the General's office. He just hoped that this would thing would not blow up in their faces. If it did, Colonel Young and Colonel Telford would have to wait a long time for reinforcements.

(NAS Defender – Cabin – 2 September 2016, 0840)

Gerhard had reported back to the Senate. Despite not sharing the brethren hatred of Humans, the New Asurans – especially the Senate – were more than a bit wary of the species. They had thrown objections and accusations at him. But he had stood his ground. He refused to let their paranoia and fear turn this into a shooting war. In fact, he felt it was time for them to develop diplomatic relations with Earth. So he got up and made his way to the bridge. When he got there, he opened a channel to Nova Roma. He had an idea or two about how to do this.

(Nova Roma – Puddle Jumper Bay – 2 September 2016, 0930)

Nikita Aranov leaned against Jumper One and wondered what they were doing. Colonel Vale had planned a morale boosting trip before the New Asurans had showed up. The trip was still happening. But now it was a joined mission with the New Asurans. Both ships would send their own ship to the moon. For _Nova Roma_, that would mean Jumper One. And the _Defender_ would send a shuttle. Nikita would lead the team on Jumper One. So now he wondered what Vale was thinking. He understood that the Colonel was trying to build bridges. But there was no way to predict what they would find down on that desert moon.

His team walked into the Jumper Bay. Besides Nikita, the team had three more members. Grogan – who would do the flying – and Doctor Guskov – who was there as the team Medic – and finally Sergeant Mehra, who was the security part of the equation. The four of them walked into the Jumper. They sat down, with Grogan taking the controls. Nikita sat next to him.

"Take her up, Captain."

"You got it, doc." Grogan said, while working the controls. "So, am I the only one who thinks this could be a really big mistake ?" As he said so, the Jumper reached the ceiling and a section of it slid away. The Jumper flew into space. "This whole thing could blow up in our face."

"He's right." Mehra said. "This is not the brightest idea. If you ask me, Mister Frozen Centurion lost a couple of braincells in that icebox."

"That's why nobody is asking you." Guskov grumbled. "How long is the trip to the moon going to take ?"

"A bit under an hour." Grogan said. "The New Asurans will meet us there."

Jumper One pulled away from Nova Roma. And in the Control Room, Colson watched it go. While the teams explored the planet, he and Alison Porter would be going over to the _Defender._ Gerhard had offered to give two members of the crew a full tour of the vessel. He and Porter had volunteered. The two of them left the Control Room and made their way to the open area in front of the Stargate. Three seconds later, they were teleported out.

(Homeworld Security – Communications Room – 2 September 2016, 1045)

O'Neill had send Mitchell back to the Stargate Command. The Stargate was unplugged this week for upgrades to the dialing computer and the Control Room, which was why Mitchell had been planet-side today. But he wanted Landry and all the SG-teams briefed on what was happening with Colonel Vale and his crew. And Mitchell had drawn the short straw, so to speak. Besides, O'Neill wanted to see these New Asurans in-person, so to speak. And it would keep him out of reach should the IOA idiots show up.

Then – suddenly – there was an odd feeling and he was no longer in the Communications Room. Well, not the Homeworld Security Communication Room. He spotted a small mirror. The face of Victor Leyton looked back at him. O'Neill walked out of the room and made a beeline for the Control Room. Vale was in the Flight Control Chair. He was flying the tower towards a moon. O'Neill presumed that this was the moon Vale had talked about when he had told him about the trip he had planned.

"Colonel Mitchell ?" Vale said.

"Nope." O'Neill began. "I decided I wanted to see some of this First Contact for myself."

"Welcome aboard Nova Roma, General."

"So, how is this powder keg going along ?" He still thought this whole thing was insane. "Gotten a bang yet ?"

"No." He left the chair, which was taken by another member of the crew. "Colson and Porter are touring the _Defender_. Hailey is crunching the numbers on our second hyperspace jump. And the mission to the moon is has just started. We and the _Defender_ are moving to get a closer look at the place from orbit."

"And you think this is a good idea ? Trusting the mutated nanite robot people who can stick their hands into your forehead and probe your mind ?"

"Well, so far there hasn't been any mind-probing." Vale began. "And it's not as if we don't have enough problems. Between the Lucian Alliance and things happening in the Pegasus Galaxy, we do kind of have our hands full. That, and if things go pear-shaped, it might not hurt to have somebody friendly several galaxies closer than the Pegasus Galaxy."

"There's that." O'Neill began. "So…"

"So, now we can get to the elephant in the room. The New Asurans claim they have tried to dial the ninth chevron, sir. And that it didn't work. Which is another reason why we can't get into a fight with them. We need to know if that claim is true, because if it is, this mission is O-V-E-R." Vale sighed. "The New Asurans are just as smart and know just as much about the Stargate as the Ancients. If they couldn't create a work-around, it can't be done."

"So, if they were being honest, we're screwed ?"

"Pretty much, sir. And we need to find out before we jump and pass the point of no return." "You do know that there is no Plan B for this mission ?" O'Neill leaned against one of the control consoles. "If this mission goes down the drain, the IOA will put our efforts to rescue the crew of _Destiny_ and Telford's team on hiatus. Which is political talk for giving up. You're the ranking officer, so YOU can't let that happen."

"I know." Vale paused. "And I believe that if there is anybody in this universe who can help us come up with a Plan B, it's these people. We need them. But if the IOA wrecks this first contact, that's not going to happen. So you need to stay here, sir. Because as long as you keep the stones occupied, they can't ask you questions and they can't give me orders."

"And here I thought you wanted to keep me around for my sunny disposition."

"Nope." Vale said with a smile, before turning serious. "I know I can't give you orders, sir. But since you are here, could you man the communications console ? I want regular contact with our team on the surface."

"You got it." O'Neill relieved the crewmember manning the Communications console, while Vale sat behind the Science console. This whole thing was a minefield. The IOA could interfere, the New Asurans could turn hostile, or something else – something unforeseen – could happen. But for now, it was a waiting game.


	10. Chapter 9

**9 - Underground**

(Jumper One – Desert Moon – 2 September 2016, 1050)

The New Asuran shuttle was about the same size as the Puddle Jumper. It was oval shaped with a large window in the front, a hatch in the back and retractable – cylinder shaped – engines. It was clear that the design had been inspired by the Jumper. Before Aranov could ponder it further, the hatch opened and four Asurans walked out. Two of them were male and two were female. The males and one of the females were Caucasian, while the last member of the team would have been called Asian back home. He could not see what color their hair was, because they were all wearing helmets. As for the rest of their clothes…they were all wearing tan BDU-like uniforms above tan boots.

The Asian looking female approached Aranov. He looked at Mehra, who was looking very calm, but still keeping her finger near the trigger of her weapon. Grogan was not so good at hiding his nerves. His hand was on his holster and ready to pull his sidearm. Aranov gave them both a look that told them to keep their cool and that he would not tolerate any unauthorized moves.

"Doctor Aranov ?"

"That's me." Aranov began. "And you are ?"

"I am Claudia, I am the Chief Science Officer aboard the _Defender_. And this are Victoria, she is the head of Security. Peter is the ranking pilot…" She gestured towards one of the males. He had green eyes and looked like a human in his thirties. "….and Henry is a member of our medical staff." Henry had brown eyes and appeared like a human in his fifties.

"You have a medical staff ?" Guskov asked. "I thought Asurans and New Asurans we not susceptible to diseases."

"This is Doctor Guskov and he is the Chief Medical Officer of our ship." Aranov said, before introducing Mehra and Grogan. Then he turned back to Claudia. "Now, about the doctor's question…"

"Well, we didn't have any when we left the Pegasus Galaxy. But when we got here…well, we discovered that life is way more adaptable and hostile then we thought the hard way. Including run-ins with three very nasty metal eating species of bacteria."

"Metal eating bacteria ?" Guskov said. "Out here ?"

"I'll see to it that you get the files, doctor. But trust me, you do not want these germs about Nova Roma." Claudia decided to change the subject. "So, how do you want to go about this ? We didn't scan anything useful on the way down."

Aranov looked around. The moon was one giant – and hot - expanse of white sand. But they had to get this mission started somehow. So he made a call. "I suggest we head north-west…" He pointed in the proper direction. "….because there is a large dune about fifteen minutes of walking in that direction. We might be able to see something useful from the top."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Claudia turned to her team. "Peter, Victoria, you take the lead…"

"Mehra, Grogan, you cover the rear."

There were tense nods of understanding. Everybody took his or her position and they headed out. As they did so, Aranov bit his lower lip. So far, the mission was going smoothly. But he could sense the tension in the air. One spark, one misstep and this whole thing would turn really nasty fast. They were carrying standard issues guns – P90's and Beretta M9s – and not Anti-Replicator Guns. (ARG's were energy weapons that made replicators fall apart.) And Asurans were bulletproof, so their chances were not good…

(NAS Defender – Bridge – 2 September 2016, 1050)

The _New Asuran Ship Defender_ was an impressive vessel. Colson had read reports about the _Aurora_-class, but to see it first hand was really something. The bridge was the last stop on the tour. When they entered it, Captain Parron was sitting in the center seat. Her crew was busy working the consoles as she gave orders.

"How is the mission going, Captain ?" Colson asked.

"They've just landed and met up." Parron began. "As for orbital scans, all they show is sand, sand and more sand. There are no signs of inhabitation down there."

"Have you explored this system before ?" Porter asked.

"We have a basic chart, but we never explored it in detail." Parron said. "We've never had a reason to do so."

"Do you have basic charts of every solar system in the galaxy ?" Colson asked.

"Yes, and a few of solar systems outside this galaxy. Those systems were used as rest stops by the three ships we send to reach _Destiny_." Parron leaned back in her chair. "It took thousands of years to chart this galaxy to that level. We call it the Hope Galaxy. It seemed fitting at the time. That and the transport we used to get here was called _Hope_."

"I like it." Porter said. "So what was it like when you got here ?"

"Pretty harsh. We picked the most fertile planets to settle on and even the most fertile one of that only had four species of plant and two species of insect. So we transplanted every species of life we found during our exploration to our planets. It took a bit of doing, but now they all have the same ecosystem. Which is still pretty limited."

"How do you define pretty limited ?"

"Eleven species of plants, four species of insects and one species of similar to what I believe you call a cow." Parron said. "And of course, New Asurans." She said with a smile.

"Not counting microscopic lifeforms, I presume ?" Porter said.

"True, there are plenty of those."

"What about the Stargate network ?" Colson asked. "Did you upgrade and expand it when you got here ?"

"No. We tried, but because the _Destiny_ model and the Pegasus Galaxy model Stargate have millions of years of technological development between them, they are very hard to connect. It took every trick in the book to replace the eighteen Stargates on our worlds with Pegasus Galaxy models and made them compatible with the existing network."

"What about the old Stargates ?" Porter asked, with a look on her face that made Colson frown.

"Alison ? What are you thinking ?"

"I don't know yet. But I think there's an idea growing in the back of my head." She looked at Parron. "So, Captain, about the old Gates…"

"Well, I believe they are in storage in a warehouse on Planet One. That's our capital, for the record. But nobody has…." That was as far as she got before there was an alarm. "What the…. Our teams are gone." She hit some keys on a nearby panel. "One moment they were there and the next…gone. All eight of them." She turned to one of her crew. "Get me _Nova Roma_."

The crewmember nodded and opened the channel. Colson bit his lower lip and looked at the screen. This was where the soup would either stick to the spoon or things would fall apart.

(Desert Moon – Cave – 2 September 2016, 1057)

Grogan woke with a nasty cut on his forehead. One moment, they had been walking along. Then there had been a tremor and the ground had swallowed them all. As he got up, he realized that they were in a cave. Then he looked up and saw that the ceiling had apparently been made out of thin rock. It had simply been too weak hold their weight.

"Au. That hurt."

"Don't move." He heard Henry say. Heard being the operative word, because the place was too dark for him to see two feet in front of his face. "I need to see to that cut."

"I'd rather have Doc Guskov…." That was when people started turning on their flashlights, allowing him to see. And there, three feet away, was Pavel Guskov, his neck at an impossible angle. "...Doc. He is…." He looked at the Asurans and raised his Beretta. It was only now that he realized that he had lost his P-90 during the tumble. But Mehra grabbed him by the shoulder.

"He broke his neck in the fall. It's not their fault."

Grogan kept his weapon raised, but took a closer look at the body. As he did so, he realized that Mehra was right. He holstered his weapon and sat down. Henry set to treating the cut on his head.

"Sorry."

"I understand." Henry said as he bandaged the cut. "Our brethren in the Pegasus Galaxy really ruined our reputation, didn't they ?" He handed Grogan his P-90. "Here's you weapon, Captain."

"Thank you, doc." He made his way to Guskov's body and closed his eyes. The doctor had taken a real beating on the way down. Grogan sighed and then cursed. His tirade was ended by his radio coming to life. He grabbed it. "Grogan here."

=/\=This is General O'Neill, what's going on down there ?=/\= But his voice sounded like Victor Leyton. And then he realized that the General O'Neill was using the Ancient Stones. =/\=You vanished from sensors.=/\=

"There was a cave-in, sir. Doctor Guskov…" He swallowed. "…didn't make it, sir. He broke his neck in the fall, General."

=/\=That's it. I'm scrubbing this mission, get back up here.=/\=

"General O'Neill ?" Claudia asked, her tone sharp and annoyed. "I thought Colonel Vale was in charge of _Nova Roma_ ? Did you lie to us ?"

"No." Aranov began. "Colonel Vale IS the commanding officer of _Nova Roma. _General O'Neill is his superior, who commands everything Stargate related. He's back on Earth, but we have these Ancients Stones that…."

"….Allow people to swap bodies." Claudia said with nod. "We know about that technology, but we don't have it. Apparently, it only works on organic lifeform." She paused. "And that's how your report back to your superiors ?"

"Yes, it's the only way we can communicate over that long a distance." It was at this point this radio came to life and O'Neill yelled at him to reply. Aranov grabbed his radio and opened the channel. "We heard you, sir. The problem is that we have no idea how to get out of this cave, sir."

=/\=Well, figure it out. Because if you don't get back here, you're fired !=/\=

"Yes, sir." He said. "Aranov out." He closed the channel and looked at the body of Guskov. "I know this stinks, but…" He sighed. "…we're leaving Pavel here for now. That hole is big enough for the Jumper. Once we're back aboard, we'll go back for him." Grogan and Mehra gave him looks, but he didn't flinch. "Now, let's find a way out of here."

Grogan looked around. The cave appeared to a circle. Then he spotted a narrow passage. He readied his P-90 and headed down it. Looking back, he saw the others were following him. The Asurans had pulled some kind of energy pistols. They were about the same size as their Berretta's. He still thought this joined mission was an extremely bad idea. But for better or worse, they were in it now.

(NAS Defender – Bridge – 2 September 2016, 1105)

The crew had managed to get the team on the surface back on the sensors. They were now tracking them as the progressed through the underground passages. While Parron did that, Colson and Porter were working on finding out why they had not detected the tunnels before. They were being helped by an Asuran male called Zachary. He appeared like an African human in his thirties. The three of them were looking at the readings. Then Zachary hit several buttons and the display changed. It showed white circles emanating from blue lines representing the tunnels.

"Is that a dampening field ?" Porter asked.

"It sure is." Zachary began. "But this particle signature is not in the database. This is not the work of any species we have encountered. I managed to compensate by running a recalibration routine."

"Can you expand the scan to cover the entire planet ?" Colson asked.

"Right." Zachary hit several buttons and the scan expanded. "Bloody…" The whole planet was covered in a network of blue lines. "It's enormous. There's enough room in there for thousands of humanoid people."

"Hundreds of thousands." Porter said.

It was at this point that Parron joined them. Zachary explained what they had found. Parron scratched her face, bit his lower lip and then turned to Zachary. She told him to transmit the telemetry and open a channel to _Nova Roma_, which he did.

(Desert Moon – Tunnel – 2 September 2016, 1109)

They were making good time down the tunnel. But as they did so, Grogan began to realize that something was wrong. The walls and floor were too even. And then he spotted writing on the wall. It was covered in dust, which he wiped away. The writing was unlike any he had ever seen before. (He had studied a bit of Ancient, Goa'uld, Asgard and even some Furling writing. Beyond these alien languages, he also knew some French, Latin and Chinese.) He turned to the rest of the group.

"Doctor Aranov, Claudia, you need to see this."

"What did you find, Captain ?" Aranov began, before spotting the writing. "Writing ?"

"It's not any language I've seen before." Grogan said. "And I think there is more of it."

"It's not any language we have encountered either." Claudia added. "We could run a sample through the Ancient database aboard your vessel. That might generate some data."

Aranov nodded and took out a camera, which he used to take several photographs of the writing. That done, he made a hand signal to Grogan and they continued down the passage. After two more turns, they encountered an alcove containing a ladder. At the top of the ladder was a hatch. Grogan carefully tried one of the rungs. It held his weight. He climbed to the top and found a button next to the hatch, which he pushed. There was a horrible screeching sound, but it opened. As it slid aside, sand began pouring in. He quickly made his way back down the ladder.

"Well, I think we have found a way out."

"Yes, but let's wait until the sand…." Aranov said before his radio cut him off. "Aranov here."

=/\= Aranov, you'd better not be sightseeing down there.=/\=

"No, sir. But apparently the natives wrote a 'Keep Out' sign on the walls, or something." He paused. "But we did find a way out, sir."

=/\=Then stop yapping and start walking.=/\=

"Yes, sir. Aranov out." He turned to the others. "You heard the General. Let's get out of here and…" He swallowed. "…and collect Pavel. The sooner we get off this rock, the better."

Looking back at the ladder, Grogan realized that the flow of sand had slowed down enough for them to climb out. So he led the way out of the tunnels.


	11. Chapter 10

**10 – Wavering Dedication**

(Stargate Command – Briefing Room – 3 September 2016, 0800)

Jack O'Neill was extremely cranky. They had been able to confirm the readings the _Defender _had send over. There really was a vast alien tunnel network on the moon. And then the teams had come back…with Doctor Guskov's body. It had been a massive blow to morale. As for the funeral….Colonel Vale had given a good speech. They had put Guskov's remains in an empty supply crate, sealed it and launched it into the star. And that was just one of the things that had happened.

The New Asurans were – as much as Jack hated to admit it – proving trustworthy. They had given the crew of _Nova Roma_ all the data on their attempts to dial the ninth chevron. (Along with some data on metal eating bacteria they had apparently been promised.) It turned out that they had tried to do the same thing as the crew of _Nova Roma_ were planning to do. The eggheads had developed a special program which was supposed to fool _Destiny_ to make it think the tower was on Earth. They – meaning Homeworld Command – had gotten to version 3.0. Alas, the New Asurans had tried for thousands of years before abandoning their effort. And they had gotten to version 207.8.

At the same time, this meant that they had another problem. Because it also meant that the Nakai were waiting for them three galaxies on. They would be able to skip the Nakai Home Galaxy itself, but they would still be in for a fight. And without Stargate access to _Destiny_, things would get….hairy. But the real problem was that – despite his and Colonel Vale's efforts – the IOA had found out about this whole mess. And – just as Jack had expected – they had begun to waver in their dedication to this mission. And they had called him in to discuss the matter. But there was one piece of good news. All the high ranking representatives were too busy arguing to attend this meeting herself.

"Who's blasted idea was this ?" O'Neill heard a male voice say as he entered the briefing room. "I'm a file clerk, not a politician or a soldier."

"You think I like being here ?" A female voice countered. "I was working on the Mark Three naquadah reactor."

The male voice belonged to a thirty-ish African-American man with short, black hair and brown eyes. He also had a week's worth of beard growth. The man wore a blue coverall with the flag of the United Kingdom on one shoulder. Next to him sat a Caucasian female with blue eyes and red hair. She wore the same coverall, but hers had the flag of the United States. The chairs for the Russian, Chinese and French representatives were still empty. The two representative that were there stood up.

"General O'Neill, I presume ?" The man said. "I'm Reginald Jones, representing the United Kingdom."

"And I am Doctor Ingrid Anders, representing….well…us, sir." She paused. "I'm assigned to the New York research base, sir."

There was a small research base in New York, which was manned by an international staff. O'Neill remembered that Anders was the ranking American scientist at that base. He looked at the two of them with a cranky look on his face.

"So, not only do they pull me out, I have to deal with the D-team ?"

"More like the F-team." Jones said. "Apparently, even the D and E-teams are busy bickering, sir. And over half of this team didn't even bother to show up." He gestured towards the empty chairs. "I have no idea where the other representatives are. Hell, they didn't even bother to tell us who they were."

"Forget this, they can kiss…." That was as far as O'Neill got before the door opened and three people came in. They wore the same coveralls as the others. Two were Caucasian male and one was an Asian female. The female carried the flag of China on her shoulder, while the two males had the flags of France and Russia on their clothes. "…Yes ?"

"Sorry, we got lost." One of the men said with a thick Russian accent. He had short, brown hair and green eyes. "Boris Grankin. And this…" He gestured towards the French representative. "….is Henry Valluy." Valluy was muscled, with blond hair and blue eyes. "And Qui Han is our Chinese representative." Han had brown eyes and black hair in a pixie cut. She the youngest of the three. Valluy and Grankin were in their fifties, while Han was clearly twenty-something.

"So, what are your day jobs ? So far, we have an egghead and a file clerk."

"I was a cook on Atlantis." Grankin said. "Valluy is a janitor and Miss Han is a nurse."

"That does it, I am out of here." O'Neill said as he got up and headed for the door. "You people are free to continue this farce, bye."

And with that, O'Neill was gone. The three representatives sat down at the table. This was followed by a silence that was extremely uncomfortable. In the end, it was Valluy who broke it.

"Okay, this won't do." He began. "We can't leave those people stranded on that ship. And that is exactly what our bosses intend to do." He paused. "And they are going to use us as their scapegoats. So, does anybody have anything ?"

"I can brief you on the Lee Paradox." Anders said. There were nods of approval. "Okay, Earth has had two Stargates. The first was located in Antarctica, so let's call it Arty. While the second is one found in Egypt in 1928. That would be Sandy."

"Right, that's Stargate 101." Jones said.

"Now, the problem is that when _Destiny_ and Atlantis were launched, Arty was the Gate in use. And Arty has this symbol as the point of origin…" She took out a piece of paper and a pen and drew a circle with a line underneath it. "And it was also in use when Atlantis launched. Both Gates were programmed only to accept one address from outside their home galaxy, Earth. Which at the time ended with Arty's point of origin."

"But Arty got buried in the ice." Han said. "Ra planted Sandy in Egypt. But from I understand, that only happened a few thousand years ago. While _Destiny_ and Atlantis were launched millions of years ago. And yet we were able to dial into both using Sandy's point of origin, the pyramid with a circle above it. So, how did Atlantis and _Destiny_ get reprogrammed ?"

"Isn't there something called correlative updates ?" Jones said.

"Yes." Anders said. "The universe expands and thus the Gates move, causing their coordinates to change. The updates keep the network working by refreshing all the coordinates." She leaned forward. "The thing is, as far as we know, these updates are limited to each galaxy."

"But, let's presume that Atlantis and _Destiny_ are included in these updates, how did they actually get the file to those places ?" Grankin began. "Inside the galaxies, the Stargates themselves can be used as relays for the transmission. But how do you get the transmission from galaxy to galaxy ? Even if the Pegasus and Milky Way models can send transmissions over such a distance, the rest of the galaxies along the course have the _Destiny_ model of Gate. And that model certainly doesn't have the transmission range for sure."

"That is the Lee Paradox." Anders said.

"You know." Valluy began. "There is something else. We know that the Ancients set _Destiny_ on auto-pilot and planned to dial-in once it was far enough out. But how would they know it was far enough out, if they were not tracking its progress ? Thus they would have to send some telemetry back to Earth. Which brings us back to Boris' question….How ?"

"So ?" Jones began. "What do we do ?"

"Well, we have nothing to lose." Han began. "Let's ask the New Asurans about this."

"And what do we tell our superiors ?" Jones asked.

"I think it would be best if we tell them nothing." Grankin said. "Otherwise, they'll object and yell and generally make a nuisance of themselves. And then we'll never get an answer. I say we wait until we have more information before telling them anything."

"I agree." Han said.

"So do I." Valluy said.

"It's the best plan we have." Jones said. "And, as much as I hate to say it, it's also the only plan we have. I think we should ask the New Asurans and stick to Boris' suggestion."

"Okay." Anders began. "Let's call it Operation LP. I'll see if I can find General O'Neill and set up a visit to _Nova Roma_."

There were nods of approval, after which Anders got up and headed out. She had a feeling that the General would not like this idea of them visiting the tower. But he would like the idea of abandoning the mission even less. So, in the end, they would be allowed to go. (Or at least, she hoped so.)

(Nova Roma – Main Science Lab – 3 September 2016, 1017)

Jennifer Hailey sat behind her laptop and stared at the screen. Two IOA representatives – called Anders and Jones – had arrived and written a file on Lee Paradox. They had then presented that file to the New Asurans and asked Gerhard for a reply. He had told them that he would have to discuss this with his superiors. Hailey had read the file and recognized it for what it was, a desperate gamble by five IOA employees who did not want to be sacrificed for political gains. The Lee Paradox – named after Doctor Bill Lee, who had been the first to put it on paper – was interesting. But in her opinion, the chances of there being something useful in the answer were not that good.

So instead, she was doing here best to do her part in helping to solve the mystery of the desert moon. They had send down teams to examine the place in more detail. They meaning the crew of _Nova Roma_ and the New Asurans. There were photos, scans and samples of all sorts. The samples were being analyzed by a team led by Porter. As for Aranov, he was down on the moon, leading one of the collection teams. Which left Hailey with the pictures and scans. Alas, she was not making any real progress. While she had figured out some small tidbits, who these people where and how they had ended up here still eluded her.

"Having any luck ?" A female voice said.

Hailey looked up to see Anne Teldy standing there. She had been so focused on the work that she had not heard Teldy coming in.

"No."

"Well, maybe some coffee will help." Teldy put a big mug of coffee next to the laptop. "Even if it does taste like liquid rubber."

"I'll take what I can get." Hailey said. "So, what do you think about this whole situation ?"

"Trusting a bunch of replicators ? I'm firmly in the this is a bad idea camp. But then again, I am the Head of Security, so that is kinda my default mode." She grabbed a chair and sat down. "Be paranoid and all that. So…..what do you think of Colonel Vale ?"

"Well, he survived skipping 2022 years without going nuts. And he's adjusted to things like aliens and Stargates. Not to mention that he kind of helped to come up with this whole Expedition." She looked at Teldy. "Why do I have a feeling you have doubts ?"

"Look, I will admit that the guy has some things going for him. And that he would make an good CO for a normal Air Force posting, but this…out here…" She shook her head. "And after losing Doctor Guskov ?..."

"I know. But if we just turn around and leave, what will his death have been for ?"

Teldy leaned back in her chair. Before she could say anything, there was a beep from the laptop. The New Asurans had send a reply and the folks up in the Control Room had send a copy of it down here. Hailey entered her security code and the file opened. When she saw what was inside, she gasped. Sometimes it was good to be wrong.

(Stargate Command – Briefing Room – 3 September 2016, 1300)

O'Neill and Landry walked into the Briefing Room. The F-team had apparently hatched something. Not that O'Neill expected it to be anything even remotely useful. After all, up to this point, every IOA plan ever had been rubbish. As he walked in, he realized that this time, the whole team was here. He sat down and looked at the team.

"So ?"

"We've gotten an answer to the Lee Paradox from the New Asurans." Valluy said. "And it might be a game changer. Ingrid ?"

"Right." Anders said. "We've always presumed that the _Destiny_ experiment has two major elements. A fleet of seed ships ahead of the ship, gathering resources and building Stargates, which they then drop on habitual planets. And _Destiny _herself." She paused. "Turns out there is a third element to the whole deal. There is another seed ship behind the main vessel. Except this one builds communications relays and drops them between galaxies. Thus, allowing two way communications and solving the Paradox."

"So, why haven't we found these relays between the Milky Way and Pegasus ?" Laundry asked.

"Well, once we knew what we were looking for, it was easy to dig the blueprints out of the Ancient database." Anders began. "It was in the same section as where we found the ninth chevron address. It turns out they are equipped with phase generators. These put the relays in a bubble that is out of phase with the rest of universe, which hides it and keeps it safe from attack. Because even if you know where one is, weapons fire will pass right through it without doing any damage."

"And this changes the game how ?" O'Neill asked.

"Because it gives us a bone to throw our superiors." Valluy began. "And while they bicker, the folks on Atlantis can use the data the New Asurans gave us to access this network. This network will allow us to transmit reports, files, make radio contact and more. We're calling it Deep Space Internet. The DSI-network will give us more options then the stones do. And up until now, _Nova Roma_ has been using a crude map based on what Rush reported back on _Destiny_'s course. But the DSI-network will give us a precise map of the course. And it should tell us exactly where _Destiny_ is."

Anders took over. "Which means we can calculate if _Nova Roma_ can jump to _Destiny_ or not. It would no longer be a gamble. And it appears that the New Asuran copy of the database did not have the blueprints of the following seed ship. But the copy we have at Atlantis might and that gives us a shot at a Plan C."

"Might ?" O'Neill said. "Might."

Han spoke up. "As I understand, the original plan for this mission was to fly the tower until it ran out of power. And hope that _Nova Roma_ was at or close to _Destiny_ after it came out of the last hop. But like Anders said, it would no longer be a gamble. As for Plan C, once we have the blueprints, we can see if this seed ship is suitable for habitation. And if it is, we could use it to reach _Destiny_, should _Nova Roma_ not have the range."

"That's presuming _Nova Roma _can reach the seed ship." Landry said.

"No, because we can do the math in advance." Grankin began. "We'll know if it can before the jump. And, as we all know, it's this or turn around and give up. So we turn this into a report and send it to our superiors. But we also send a copy to Atlantis. While the IOA argues about what to do next, the Atlantis crew can get started."

"Do it." O'Neill said.

"Okay." Anders said. "Let's get something on paper."

O'Neill and Landry got up and walked out. They made their way into Landry's office. Landry sat behind his desk, while O'Neill sat across from him. O'Neill looked through the window to the briefing room, then turned to Landry.

"So, what do you think ?"

"I think that this F-team has more common sense then all of their superiors put together." Landry said. "And asking about the Lee Paradox did work out. So they are good gamblers."

"There's that." O'Neill said. "Of course, if it turns out that seed ship is not habitual, we're screwed."

The look on Landry's face made it clear that he thought O'Neill was right about that.


	12. Chapter 11

**11 – Spera**

(Atlantis – DSI Network Room – 8 September 2016, 0830)

It had taken an day to find the DSI Network Room. The place was located at the far end of one the piers. It had been hidden behind several rooms full of machinery and a camouflaged door, which explained why it had not been found before. And then it had taken several days to figure out how to operate it. But now they had the hang of the place. Doctor Radek Zelenka was leading a team manning the room as Colonel John Sheppard walked in.

"How is it going, Radek ?"

"Well, the map is coming together quite nicely." Zelenka began. "We should be have the location of _Destiny_ and the seed ship by the end of the day. So, has the IOA made a decision yet ?"

"No, they're still bickering about what to do." Sheppard said. "On the bright side, McKay is closing in on the blueprints of the seed ship."

Despite known what they were looking for, finding the blueprints inside the Ancient database was not easy. The database was massive and find a specific file was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. And even if they found the right file, it was very likely that the file was encrypted. Which would complicate things considerably.

"Anyway, Woolsey wanted a progress report and I couldn't raise you."

"Yes, the machinery in the other rooms seems to block our radios." Zelenka said. "Chuck is gathering the components for a relay. It should be ready in an hour or two."

"Good." He left Zelenka to do his thing. As soon as he walked out of the last machinery room, his radio crackled. "Sheppard here, repeat that."

=/\=This is McKay. I've found the blueprints of the seed ship.=/\=

"Nice work, Rodney, I'm on my way."

He made his way the nearest transporter and beamed back to the command tower. Then he headed straight for the Gate Room. McKay was in the control section of the place. The blueprints was on one of the displays. Sheppard was impressed by what he was seeing. At first glance, it appeared to be the same design as the seed ships in front of _Destiny_.

"Nice."

"Say hello to the _Spera_, which translates as _Hope_." McKay began. "And this…" He hit several keys. "…is what the seed ships in front of _Destiny_ look like."

The two schematics appeared next to one another. Because _Spera_ got the same telemetry as _Destiny_, she did not have to do as much legwork as the seed ships. This meant that there was a whole bunch of systems that she did not need. Added to that – because she was newer then _Destiny_ – the systems that were there did not take up as much space as their older counterparts. Finally, the communications relays also took less space than the Stargates to fabricated and store. The space taken by one Gate could hold six relays. Between these three things, a large chunk of _Spera_ was empty space. But Sheppard noticed something on the schematic.

"Is that a Stargate ?"

"Yes, it is." McKay said. "It appears that we have found the first Alpha Site, well….ever."

"Can we dial it ?"

McKay gave him a look that made it clear that he did not know.

(Nova Roma – Main Science Lab – 8 September 2016, 1017)

Hailey looked at the blueprints of the _Spera_. It appeared that besides installing the Stargate, the Ancients had also upgraded the command systems. The seed ships had a small control room, which aboard the _Spera_ had been expanded into a proper bridge. But other than that, there were no facilities. Apparently, they were counting on whoever showed up to bring along whatever was needed to turn the ship into a viable base. And Jennifer had an idea about that. If they could get _Nova Roma_ to _Spera_, they could cannibalize the tower to do just that. The problem was that they had no idea what condition the _Spera_ was in. Or if they could reach it.

So Hailey was crunching the numbers. She was also using the DSI-Network to communicate with Radek Zelenka. He was double checking her math, while the rest of the people in Atlantis' DSI Room were trying to figure out what condition _Spera_ was in. They were also taking a closer look at her idea about cannibalizing the tower. The door to the lab opened and Colonel Vale walked in.

"How is the math going, Major ?"

"Good. But there is a problem." She paused. "We planned to jump mere hours after dropping out. Instead, we have been sitting here for a couple of days. And even with our naquadah reactors, that has drained power from our second set of ZPMs. We might not make it."

"If anybody can make sure we make it, it's you."

"Thank you, sir."

Vale walked away. As he did so, Hailey watched his. While she understood that Teldy had her doubts, she was certain that he was the right commander for this expedition. And she was also glad that he had confidence in him. But that didn't help with the weight that seemed to be pressing on her shoulders. One mistake and they would ended up thousands of lightyears away from where they needed to go. Sometimes being the boss sucked.

(Nova Roma – Control Room – 8 September 2016, 1603)

Hailey's math had said that their chances of reaching _Spera_ were good. And the IOA – still being represented by Anders and company – had authorized the second jump. So they had jumped back into hyperspace at 1600, leaving the New Asurans and the Hope Galaxy behind. It made Teldy feel better to be away from them.

Part of her understood why the Colonel had wanted to make peace with them, but she simply did not trust them. Of course, they did have another major security problem. While the New Asurans where possibly hostile, the Nakai were definitely so. Their jump would put them far from the Nakai Home Galaxy. But that didn't mean that there couldn't be Nakai waiting for them when they dropped back out hyperspace. But that would not be for another sixty-two days.

At the moment, she was sitting behind the science console and monitoring the stability of the tower. It was holding steady. Several minutes later, Vale walked in. He sat down behind another console and started working. After another few minutes, Teldy suddenly spoke up.

"May I ask you something ?"

"Sure."

"What do you think about this mission, sir ?" She paused. "Do you think _Destiny_ is really trying to decode some grand message carved into the universe ?"

Vale seemed to ponder it. Aranov had told him that science believed that the universe had begun with an explosion called the Big Bang. And this explosion had left behind radiation. The Ancients had found a pattern hidden in that radiation and believed that this pattern contained a message. But who had created that message – and what message was – that was great mystery _Destiny_ was built to solve. (She travelled through the universe and collected data to puzzle together the answer.)

"Well…." He paused. "I went from a world of slaves, swords and the Roman Empire to a galaxy full of Stargates and aliens. But if we manage to decode what _Destiny_ is after, I think my leap will be microscopic in comparison. That ship and her mission could change things for the entire human race in ways we cannot even fathom now. The thing is…" Vale leaned back. "…that's the big picture. And while I see the big picture, is that what matters here ? Me, I think we need we to rescue Colonel Young and his crew first. The big picture will still be there tomorrow."

"Do you believe in…" Teldy paused, she had never had this kind on conversation with Vale before. "…well, you know, something…?"

"Back home, before….well, we had a whole pantheon of gods. But now….I honestly don't know." Vale turned his chair. "There are a lot of faiths out there. And they all claim that they are the only true one. How do you know which one is right ?"

"There's that. And there's not much you can do about it, is there ?" She said with a smile.

"Except do what you think is right and fair and not worry about it."

"Which sometimes is not so easy, especially when you're the commanding officer." She looked at him. "Or as Hailey puts it…sometimes being the boss sucks."

"Yeah, that's one of the few things that hasn't changed." Before the conversation could continue, there was a beep from Vale's consoles. He hit several buttons and cursed. "Great, the IOA blow hearts want me to report in. Say what you want about the Roman Empire, at least it had one thing in its favor…the bureaucrats in Rome were far away and it took forever for their orders to be relayed."

"Good luck, sir."

Vale walked out of the room and Teldy watched him go. As she did so, she wondered about their conversation and who Marc Vale was. And what he was about. She was still figuring it out. But from what she had seen up until now, he was a good man. Then her console beeped and she turned back to her work.

(Nova Roma – Mess Hall – 9 November 2016, 1550)

Aranov sat at one of the tables and took a bite out of his egg and ham sandwich. He had decided to take a break from his work on the artifacts from P2Y-101. The analysis of the data they had collected on the desert moon had given him a break from his original project. But after several weeks of pouring over the images and samples, they had written and theorized all they could. So he gotten back to the artifacts. And he had been able to put several of them together that he had been unable to fix before. And in doing so, he had managed to solve the puzzle of how the artifacts had ended up on the planet. It turned out that the people of P4C-227 – the nearest planet in the network - had been attacked by the Goa'uld in 1915. They had barely survived. And as part of their rebuilding efforts, they had hidden supplies on every planet they had the address to. P2Y-101 had been one of eleven uninhabited planets they had been familiar with.

But the research had not been the only thing going on. There had been several birthdays, which the crew had celebrated. To Aranov, it was sign that things were changing. During the first jump, everybody had been busy doing his own thing. But now the crew was beginning to bond. This was also evident in the fact that some of the crew had begun calling one another by their first names. And they were sharing meals when they could. So he was not surprised when he saw Alec Colson approach him. He was carrying a tray full of food.

"Hi, Nikita."

"Afternoon, Alec." He made a gesture. "Want to join me ?"

"Yes." He sat down. "So, what are you working on these days ?"

"Well, with the one research project done and the other as-done as it is going to get…well, work is a bit scarce. " Nikita said. "I am working on a study of the New Asurans. But there is not much to work with."

"Have you tried running a search in the Ancient database ?"

"Yes, there is no info on them or the original Asurans. So, it was not very useful." He leaned back. "But I was able to locate the Asuran Homeworld and do the math on the course the New Asurans probably took to get to the Hope Galaxy. I logged it. Who knows, it might come in handy someday."

The intercom came to life. =/\=All hands, this is Colonel Vale. We are about to drop out of hyperspace. Report to your stations.=/\=

"Lunch will have to wait." Colson said.

Colson and Aranov headed for the Control Room. Colson sat behind the Engineering console, while Aranov joined Hailey at the Science console. Ten seconds later, the tower dropped out of hyperspace. And straight into the path of six Nakai motherships….


	13. Chapter 12

**12 – It all goes to hell**

(Nova Roma – Control Room – 9 November 2016, 1601)

The Nakai motherships were giant three-dimensional trapezoids. There were two fighter bays sticking out of the sides. The ships were grey, with red details. This included a big dish at the front of the vessel, which was the main weapon. All six ships opened fire, but Major Teldy had been manning the tactical station. And she had raised the shields just in time. Nevertheless, _Nova Roma_ took a major pounding.

"Shield down by ten percent."

"Returning fire." Vale said from the control chair. "All defense stations, open fire."

_Nova Roma_ had hundreds of Ancient drones, but that was not all she had. All of the balconies that were big enough to hold one had a railgun. There were also eight missile launchers. And finally, there was an Asgard Beam Weapon. There was, however, a problem with the Asgard Weapon. In order to fire them, they had to take the hyperdrive off-line. Otherwise, there simply wasn't enough power. But the other weapons cut loose as ordered. They hit the shields of the two closest ships, but did not do any damage. The Ancient drones, however, cut through the Nakai shields. Three of the motherships exploded. But they had managed to fire several more shots before they had been reduced to rubble.

"Shields down to seventy percent."

The remaining motherships fired again. Vale fired another wave of drones and two more Nakai motherships bit the dust. The last mothership went to full sublight in an attempt to outrun the drones. But it was not enough. They fired again and the ship exploded. Vale was about to ask for a damage report, but another ship dropped out of FTL. At first glance, it looked like the other ships. But a closer look revealed that it was bigger. There were dome-shaped sections on top and an sphere-like expansion in the rear. Vale estimated it was about fifty percent bigger than the first wave ships. It first two pulses off yellow energy. Vale put the tower into a wild turn, dodging one of the pulses. But the second one hit.

"Shields down to thirty-five percent." Teldy began. "One more shot, and no more shields."

"How the hell are they doing this much damage ?" Colson said. "This doesn't line up with their attacks on _Destiny_ and the reports we have."

"I think I have an answer." Hailey began. "The New Asuran expeditions…." The ship fired again, with Vale dodging the fire. "…we presumed that the Nakai destroyed the ships completely. But what if they didn't ? What if that's how they invented their intergalactic hyperdrive ?"

"You mean they did some retro-engineering ?" Aranov said. "But how does that explain that ship out there ?"

"Recycling." Hailey said. "They learned what they could from the parts, then used them to do some major upgrading to that ship out there. It probably detected us flying through their galaxy. They followed us and arranged for this little party."

The Nakai ship fired again. There were three pulses, two of them missed. But the last one hit and the shield collapsed. And that was not the only damage. One of the console exploded, sending the crewmember who had been manning it flying. At the same time, the lights flickered. Worse, with the shields down, the balconies were exposed to space. While the bulk of folks manning the railguns had managed to get back inside, several did not make it. Before the crew could blink, the Nakai ship fired again.

Vale threw the tower through a wild turn. Alas, the tower was hit again. And the shot was devastating. More consoles exploded, windows shattered and whole sections of the tower decompressed. Then, the chair went dark….Vale realized that this meant the engines and the weapons were down. _Nova Roma_ was a sitting duck. And the Nakai were about to fire again. He looked at his crew. They all realized what was about to happen. He looked at the tactical display – well, what was left of the display – and saw that the Nakai ship was lining up for the kill shot. There was an energy surge, the pulse launched and then….hit something else. Something invisible. The object – whatever it was – exploded.

"What the…." Before he could finish, sections of space rippled and eight spaceships appeared. Vale recognized them from the description the _Destiny _crew had given them. "Ursini !?"

"Looks like it." Teldy said. "And they've all opened fire on the Nakai."

All eight of the Ursini ships opened fire. Their energy weapons fire passed right through the shields of the Nakai ships and did major damage. Then they fired some kind of torpedoes. They hit the Nakai ship and its shields collapsed. The Ursini fired another wave and finished the mothership. Vale leaned on the nearest console and sighed. It was over.

(Stargate Command – Briefing Room – 11 November 2016, 0711)

Reginald Jones was exhausted. He and the rest of the representatives had not slept since word about the ambush had come in. The tower had been in really bad shape. The crew had spent the time since the attack making repairs and connecting the few rooms that had not been decompressed. But even with the Ancient repair nanites, it was slow work. And the death toll was expected to be extremely high. Jones was leaning on the table when General Landry came in. The look on his face made it clear that this was not going to be good news.

"How many made it, General ?"

"We're still working on the final report."

"Dammit, Hank ! We authorized this ! How many !?" He sighed. "I'm sorry, General, this…"

"….is not your fault. You had no idea the Nakai were planning to ambush _Nova Roma_." Landry said, while approaching the table. "Have a seat." Jones sat down at the table. The rest of the representatives were already sitting. The General joined them. "Thirty-three. Including seventeen wounded."

Landry began giving them a more detailed report on the condition of _Nova Roma_. As he did so, General O'Neill watched from Landry's office. He turned to Sergeant Walter Harriman.

"Have they been camped out here since the news came in ?"

"Yes, sir." Harriman began. "They….they're blaming themselves, sir."

"Oh, for crying out loud. Hailey did the math, and both Zelenka and McKay confirmed it. And then Carter confirmed it AGAIN." He paused. "There was no way they could have predicted this. That's the whole point of an ambush."

"Yes, sir. But I don't think that will make them feel any better."

The look on O'Neill's face made it clear that the General thought that Walter was absolutely right that. These were good people. And they would have to life with the decision they had made.

(Nova Roma – Mess Hall – 11 November 2016, 0903)

Vale woke up. They had turned the mess hall into a living space. _Nova Roma_ was in bad shape. Most of the outer rooms were still exposed to space. But the managed to create a small safe zone in the core of the tower. There were only a handful of survivors. The Nakai had targeted the lower part of the tower. Aranov and Hailey had explained that this was because the Nakai wanted to loot the control room for intel. The other survivors had been in rooms deep inside the tower. They had been saved because the doors had closed and kept them from being sucked out into space. This had left them trapped inside pockets that had life-support.

But only thirty-three of one-hundred and two remained. And that was his fault. He should have done more and he could have done more. Leaving the sleeping bag he had been using, he made his way to the bar and searched the supplies. He pulled out a bottle of red wine and uncorked it. There were no glasses left, so he drank straight from the bottle. After a couple of sips, he sat down on one of the few surviving tables. Three sips later, Captain Grogan walked in. But there was something off about him.

"Carl." He said with a nod.

"Not really." Grogan began. "General O'Neill."

Vale put away the bottle and snapped to attention.

"At ease, Colonel." Vale relaxed a bit, but the tension did not leave his body. "Listen to me, Col…" He sighed. "Oh, to hell with protocol. Marc, sit down." The two of them sat down on the table. "This is not your fault."

"Like hell it isn't. I'm the CO, it is….or was….my job to keep these people alive."

"You know, I have five IOA representatives who are beating themselves up over this thing." O'Neill began. "And I'm going to tell you the same thing I told them. The only people responsible are the Nakai bastards who did this. Pull your head out of your ass. Because you still have a job to do." He paused. "And if you can't, step aside for somebody who can."

There was a long moment of silence. Although he would never admit it, sometimes General O'Neill reminded him of his father. And he knew what his father would do if he was he gave up. ~He would kick my ass.~ Vale thought. He picked up the bottle of wine, paused and then threw it into the bulkhead across the room. It shattered.

"It was a bad year anyway." He turned to O'Neill. "So, what's the game plan ?"

"Well, according to the eggheads, it's bad." He looked at Vale. "Even if you managed to repair all the damage, there is no way that the tower can handle the jolt of going into hyperspace. Apparently, the whole thing would tear itself asunder."

"There is good news, sir. We have friends, the Ursini have not left us since they saved our bacon. We're heading towards one of their planets as fast as we can. The bad news is that it would take a hundred and four years to get there at our current speed."

"Got a Plan B ?"

"Yeah, but you're not going to like it." There was no way to sugarcoat this, so he wouldn't even try. "Colson and Hailey calculated the Gate addresses of all eighteen New Asuran Stargates. It would take all six remaining ZPMs and all but two of ours naquadah reactors, but we can dial back there."

"You're right, I don't like it. Especially since salvaged Ancient tech is what basically allowed the Nakai to ambush us in the first place."

"That's why we are going to use the last two reactors to destroy the tower. We'll connect them to the Stargate. When the wormhole disconnects, it will start a ten second countdown. The reactors will overload and the tower will be vaporized."

"And if it doesn't ?"

"Aranov thinks he has figured out a way to ask the Ursini to take care of any wreckage. If they agree, we will be certain there is nothing left for the Nakai to find."

"And then what ?"

"To be honest, we haven't thought that far ahead yet. But if we stay here, we'll run out of food and water and die. That is the first thing we have to deal with."

"There's that."

The door opened and Alison Porter walked in. She had not been in the control room during the battle. But she had survived by diving into a supply closet. Porter was the only one left any Medical training. She had taken a First Aid course during her time in Atlantis. The look on her face said that it was not good news.

"General O'Neill, I believe you know doctor Porter ?"

"Well, doc, how does it look ?"

"It's not good. We have thirty-three people left. But Xander Henderson is comatose and three of the crew are shell shocked." Porter said. "So basically we're down to twenty-nine. Also, we lost the entire Medical staff and the security staff is down to just Teldy and Grogan."

"You're right, that's not good."

The intercom came to life and Aranov called for Vale to come to the Control Room. The three of them headed there. When they arrived, they found Aranov at the Science console, looking at some kind drawing of the city.

"What do you have, Nikita ?"

"Well, according to the reports, the first time we met the Ursini, they were aboard a seed ship." Aranov began. "So I figured that, maybe, the Ursini can read Ancient. It was a long shot, but since it was the only shot we had, I figured we had nothing to lose…." He paused. "I also send it in Wraith, Goa'uld, Chinese, English and a crude version of Nakai I put together using data we got from the New Asurans. Just to cover all the bases. Turns out the Ursini can read Nakai."

"That makes sense." Porter said. "The upgraded mothership probably send orders, which the Ursini intercepted and decoded. That's how they knew to ambush the Fleet."

"General O'Neill here." O'Neill said. "And I'd like to know if there's a point to this little science get together."

"Yes, sir." Aranov began. "The Ursini have agreed to Plan B. They…." He swallowed. "They've also collected all the bodies, sir. And they promised to bury them on their planet, sir."

O'Neill made a face. Then he took a deep breath. "Are we sure this is going to work ?" He looked at Vale. "Because if you don't have enough power, you might be stuck on a tower about to blow up."

"The chances are eighty-twenty, general." Aranov began. "Which, based on the reports I've read, is actually not that bad. SG-1 and AR-1 have pulled off plans with much worse chances."

"And the whole food, water and death thing, sir." Vale added. "So, even if the chances were worse, we don't really have a Plan C."

"There's that." O'Neill began, leaving a long silence. "Do it."

"Yes, sir." Vale said. "We'll need three days to make it happen. One to set up the power source and self-destruct and two to strip the base. Since we're probably going to be in the Hope Galaxy for…well, a while…I think we should take anything that is not nailed down. And as much of the rest as we can."

"Better get started then."

O'Neill headed for the Communications Room to disconnect the Ancient Stone, while Vale began giving orders.

(Nova Roma – Gate Room – 15 November 2016, 0755)

Colson looked at the display in front of him. He was sitting at the Engineering Station. Victor Leyton had died in the attack, so it had fallen to him to modify the tower. _Nova Roma_ was designed to be powered by three ZPMs at a time, which meant that they had to plug the other ZPMs directly into the Gate. But that was easier said than done. And – as a result – it had taken two days, instead of one to get the power set-up done. But that had actually worked out in their favor. In the original plan, they would have been forced to abandon the Puddle Jumpers. This was because the door between the Jumper Bay and the Gate Room had been broken. The delay had given them the time they needed to repair the door.

"How's the power looking, Alec ?" Vale asked as he walked into the room.

"Good." He began. "Power is stable and at maximum. How are the Jumpers ?"

"Jumper One has the wounded and shell shocked, while Jumper Two is crammed with all the heavy gear." Vale said.

Fifteen of the seventeen wounded were back on their feet. Xander Henderson was still in a coma and Hetty McConnell was still on the mend. She had survived the battle with just one injury. The problem was that this injury was a broken leg. And Porter had decided that she was not to even try to stand up for a week. As for the shell shocked. The truth was there was no way to treat them aboard _Nova Roma_. They needed some serious psychological treatment before they would heal.

"How long until we dial ?" Colson asked.

"Two minutes." Vale said. "You need to join the others."

Colson nodded, stood up and made his way down the stairs to the Stargate Room. All the survivors who were not in the Jumpers, were here. His backpack was lying against one of the bulkheads. Grogan helped him put it on. Soon after, the Gate began dialing. After what left like forever, the final chevron locked and the wormhole opened. The door to the Jumper Bay opened and the two Jumpers went through. Teldy began to count down from ten. Then she turned to the group.

"Okay, people, you know the plan." She said. "Two at time on a two count."

Then she readied her weapon and stepped through the Gate. The others followed, until it was just Colson and Grogan. Since they had not been totally sure this would work, they had decided not to enable the self-destruct until the last moment. Which was why Vale was still in the Control Room. He looked at the Gate Room and saw Colson and Grogan step through the Gate. He entered his command code into a laptop that was tied into the reactors. A beep told him that the self-destruct was armed.

"Okay, Marcus, time to go."

He ran down the stairs towards the Gate. His backpack had been loaded in Jumper Two that he didn't have to carry it for his jolt. He reached the Gate, but didn't run in. To do so, felt….wrong. Instead, he stopped and gave the Gate Room one last look. The Nakai had made one more victim.

"Goodbye."

He stepped through the Gate. Five seconds after that, the wormhole disengaged. And fifteen seconds after, _Nova Roma_ was no more.


	14. Chapter 13

**13 – Locked Up**

(Nova Roma – Gate Room – 9 November 2016, 1559)

Vale was in the Gate Room. Or some place that looked like the Gate Room. He looked around the room and spotted a clock that shouldn't be there. It was mounted on one of the panels in the control room. The time appeared to be frozen at 1559.

"You left us behind." A male voice said.

He turned to see Pavel Guskov standing there. The doctor was bleeding from a nasty cut on his forehead – but he did not notice - which was odd. Because he had died of a broken neck. The man was also way to pale. ~Like the dead man he is.~

"There was no way to take the bodies along, doctor."

"That's a lie !" Guskov snapped. "You simply didn't care ! Take a couple sips of wine and move on !"

More of the dead entered the room They were all wounded and bleeding. (He spotted Mehra and Leyton amongst them.) The crowd yelled at him, blaming him of their deaths. He backed away from them, until he bumped into something. He turned and saw his father.

"You disappointed me."

His heart sank. He tried to say something, anything. But his body refused to cooperate. His father turned to mist and sank away through the floor. The crowd kept yelling at him. He put his hands over his ears and screamed…

(Planet 7 – Warehouse – 16 November 2016, 0417)

…before waking up on a bunk. They had come out of the wormhole on Planet 7 as planned. The Stargate on this planet was on a plaza in the middle of the capital city. It had taken the local security force virtually no time to respond to their arrival. They had quickly surrounded the Expedition. Fortunately, Gerhard had also responded quickly. He had ordered all of the them locked up in a warehouse at the edge of town. In the days since, they had managed to turn the place into a makeshift home.

Vale sat up and sighed. The nightmares had begun the night after they had arrived. And there was more one. He threw his legs over the edge of the bed. There was a knock at the door. He got up and opened it. Doctor Porter was standing there. Her room was next to his.

"Are you okay, Colonel ?"

"Yeah, I'm…."

"Having nightmares ?" She smiled at him. "Look, I understand if you don't want to talk about it…"

"Come on in." He stepped aside and she walked into the room. Vale closed the door behind her. "Look, I would be lying if I said I totally fine. The ambush…." He sighed. "I should have seen it coming."

"How ? There was no way to know that some of the New Asuran tech had survived." She paused. "I….euhm…..I overheard what General O'Neill said to you before I came in. And he was right. The only people responsible for that happened are the Nakai."

"My mind knows that. But my heart…." He shook his head. "I lost seventy people."

"WE lost seventy people." Porter said. "We all knew what we were signing up for when we joined this mission. And that's true for both the military personnel and the civilians." She paused. "And, like General O'Neill said, the IOA authorized the jump. It was THEIR call to move the mission forward."

Vale was about to say something, but he realized that she was right. He gestured towards a small table with two chairs. His room had been a supply closet when they had gotten here. The New Asurans had apparently forgotten about this warehouse and the stuff inside. So they had made good use of those supplies as well. And those had included several bunks, some chairs and a couple of tables. Porter sat down, while Vale sat across her.

"You know, it's at moments like this that I miss my old job."

"What exactly did you do in the legions ?"

"Actually, I had just made Centurion when I was frozen." Vale leaned back. "But to answer your question, I took troops that were fresh out of training and kept them alive long enough to gather experience. One, two…sometimes, three years. Then they would transfer to other units. If I had not been….you know….I would have been busy whipping seventy-two soldiers into veterans."

"What was it like ? I mean, I know about the Empire from history books. But you actually lived it in."

"Advanced and brutal at the same time." Vale paused. "I'm not going to pretend it was perfect. I did some pretty nasty stuff in the legions. And no, you don't want to know the details. We had very different laws, there were social classes and slaves. It was…a world as alien as anything you can find by means of the Gate."

"I see." She paused. "So, what happens now ? To the Expedition, I mean ?"

"The New Asuran Senate is holding a vote today. Apparently, they are considering sending us back to Earth." They both knew what that meant. If the New Asurans made that call, it was all over. "Which is not making sleeping any easier."

"Well, I'm going to give it another shot. Good night, Colonel."

"Yeah, good idea. See you later." The two of them got up and headed for the door. "The vote is at 0800, so we should know at 0805. I'll make an announcement after they tell me."

Porter gave him a nod and left. Vale closed the door behind her, then went back to his bunk. This was going to a long, long night.

(Planet One – New Asuran Senate – 16 November 2016, 0800)

The Senate building was located in the middle of the capital city of Planet One. It was one of the oldest buildings in the whole Empire. And that meant it was not exactly the roomiest of places. The Senate Chamber had a horseshoe table with eighteen chairs – each planet had one Senator – and a small stand for the public. The stand had filled in record time. And now the Senators were filing in. They took their seats and the Chairman of the Senate entered. His name was Victor. He looked like a sixty-year old Human with grey hair and brown eyes. Victor took a seat inside the horseshoe.

"We are here today to vote on returning the Tau'ri to their homeworld, Earth." He began. "So, let us vote."

Each senator had three buttons in front of him or her. A red one to present no, an orange one to abstain and a green one for yes. They were connected to lights in front of them. Because he was the Chairman, Victor did not get to vote. So he simply watched as all the green lights lit up. After the last vote was in, he stood up and looked at the stands.

"The Senate has voted. And it has been decided…"

"….that today is the day we prove Oberoth right." Another voice said.

There were hushed comments and exchanged glances. The source of the voice came walked into the room. The voice belonged to a male Asuran who appeared like he was in his thirties, with brown hair that was cut short and brown eyes. He had causcasian skin and a stubble like he had not shaved for three days. His name was Yorick and he was the first New Asuran ever. Yorick had led the original rebellion back on the Asuran Homeworld. He had been the Chairman of the Senate until a hundred years ago. Then he had vanished for the public eye. Since then, there had been stories and rumors. The fact that he was here, meant that he was taking this vote extremely serious.

"During the Rebellion, I had a conversation with Oberoth. He said we were fools and that we would never equal them or the Ancients." Yorick began. "And he was right. I have heard about the people from Earth and how their political leaders – the IOA – are narrow-minded, bureaucratic and xenophobic. And, as we have learned today, so are we. We came here to build a new, better civilization…." He walked into the middle of the chamber and looked at the crowd.

"And we have failed. We like to judge the humans. We like to judge the Ancients and the Asurans. But the truth is that we are just as selfish and arrogant. Oh yes, we can pat ourselves on the back for not killing the Humans here. Bravo." His voice was dripping with sarcasm. "Who cares that we are condemning the people aboard _Destiny_ !? Let's play it safe. After all, that's how we got here. That how we got off Asuras. That's how we build this civilization !" He looked at the Senators, his eyes spitting contempt and fire.

"No, we have not stagnated as a race ! We are colonizing planet after planet !" The New Asurans had not settled a new planet in three hundred years. "We are making new, grand discoveries and figuring out more and more about the universe…about existence itself…every day ! Congratulations, well done !"

And with that said, he marched out of the room. The second he was gone, the room erupted into chaotic shouting and discussion.

(Planet 7 – Warehouse – 16 November 2016, 1018)

The whole Expedition team was gathered in the biggest room in the warehouse. There was no news from the Senate yet. They had received a paper copy of Yorick's speech, along with a note that said the Senate was locked in a heated debate. And that the original vote had been declared invalid. There were also large crowds of protestors on the street. But nobody knew if these were people who in favor of sending them to Earth, or against. So there was nothing for them to do, except sit and wait.

"This is ridiculous." Hailey said. "They could be in debate for days."

"That's politics for you." Aranov said. "The leaders waste time and the people suffer."

"That's very Russian of you, Nikita."

"I prefer to call it realistic, Jennifer." He smiled at her. "Now, does anybody have…." That was as far as he got before the sound of a door opening stopped him. "Never mind."

A male Asuran walked into the room. He was wearing jeans and a white T-shirt.

"Greetings, I am Yorick." He said. "And yes, I am that Yorick. I need to talk to Lieutenant-Colonel Vale. The senate has made a decision, but the situation is….complicated."

"That would be me." Vale said.

"Can we talk somewhere in private ?"

"Of course." Vale said. "Please, follow me."

Vale led Yorick to his room. He had to admit that the founder of the New Asurans was not what he had expected. In his mind, Yorick had been an elderly fat man with a beard. They reached his room and he sat down at the table. Yorick sat across from him. Then he took a folder from under his arm – Vale had not even noticed he had it – and opened it. Inside of it was what appeared to be a map of a part of _Destiny_'s course. The map began at the Nakai Home Galaxy and ended at a galaxy marked Destiny Galaxy Two.

"Did they tell you that I have not been out in public for a hundred years ?"

"Yes, but nobody told me why. So…."

"Well, that's why I wanted to talk to you. And why this situation is complicated…" He paused. "You know that we tried to reach _Destiny_. And that our ships had to make stops along the way. You also know that the Nakai have been chasing that ship through galaxy after galaxy. Now, our stops do not have any buildings. They were just places where we paused. The Nakai, however, need food, water and air…"

"…and to guard and cultivate those resources. So the Nakai stops would have to be manned. Because without these…." He paused. "...small colonies it would be impossible to replace any ships lost during the chase. Which means there would have to colonies all over this map." He pointed to the map. "So ?"

"That's what these blue dots are." There was a chain of blue dots on the map. "Now, these colonies are old and far removed from Nakai Home Space and thus the central authority of their race. And this had made the Nakai living on these worlds…different. They call _Destiny_ the Destroyer."

"The Destroyer ? Really ?"

"Before that ship passed through their galaxy, the Nakai had a culture. But then they became obsessed with capturing that ship, its secrets and its technology. They lost…so such. And the Nakai on these colonies began to realize that. They feel that there is more to life than just…chasing a billion year old Ancient rust bucket. So they began exploring the galaxies they were in, running experiments and developing technology that had nothing to do with reaching _Destiny_, and creating things like poetry and paintings. And so much more. But the folks in Home Space…."

"….they did not appreciate this, did they ?"

"No, they did not. But the Nakai already knew about us. So they asked us for help." Yorick paused. "You see, there are forty-two planets in this galaxy that are suitable for permanent inhabitation. After our terraforming program, that is. But only eighteen of those had neutronium." Vale nodded in understanding. Neutronium was an element needed to make Asurans. "They wanted to relocate to the other planets. And we, in our selfishness, said no. I was so furious that I stood done as Chairman of the Senate and went into exile. The people demanded that the senate stand down, which they did. But over time, the new Senators became just as narrow minded as the old."

"And how do the Ursini fit into this story ? How did they know to ride to our rescue ?" He paused. "And where did the Nakai motherships that backed up the upgraded one come from ?"

"Well, officially, we did not have any relations with the Nakai Colonists. Off the record, however, I kept some backchannels open between them and me. And I also kept some connections to our political leadership. But the key thing I did, was arrange the building of an off-the-grid DSI-network facility."

"You have a DSI Facility ?"

"Yes. But the Senate does not know." He learned forward. "The official one was dismantled after we gave up on trying to dial the ninth chevron. Anyway, I used the telemetry as an early warning system. Because, like you said, the Nakai in Home Space where not happy with the colonists and their philosophy. They have tried three times to wipe them out. The first time, I send the colonists coordinates to worlds where they could relocate. When the fleet arrived, they found only the original outposts. And they couldn't destroy those, because they needed them for the chase. The second time, the Home Space Fleet came in large numbers and tried to find the relocated colonists. But we provided them with cloaking technology." He paused.

"Attempt three is where the Ursini enter the picture. We had just discovered them and their war with the berserker drones was not going well. I managed to negotiate an alliance between the colonists and the Ursini. The Ursini needed a place to life that was out of range of the drones, while the Nakai needed reinforcements against the Home Space Fleet."

"So the Ursini did not go extinct, they just left ?"

"Yes, they resettled on the Nakai worlds." Yorick began. "Their ships were enough to make the Home Space Fleet cancel their plans. The things is, we made the Home Space Nakai think that the Ursini had ten times more ships then they actually have. And now they have caught on…."

"So…they are going to try again ?"

"Yes, and soon. We're talking weeks here." Yorick scratched his face. "That's what I meant when I said it was complicated. It's not just about Colonel Young's crew, Colonel Telford's team or even your crew anymore. We're talking about twenty-five million Nakai and thirteen million Ursini spread over 82 planets here. And they are going to get massacred unless we come up with a plan."

"Okay, no pressure."

But they both knew that this was no going to be an easy task.


	15. Chapter 14

**14 – A Crazy Plan**

(Planet 7 – Warehouse – 25 November 2016, 1412)

Jennifer Hailey sighed and looked at her laptop. She had been trying – for a couple of days now – to rewrite the program they had been planning to use to dial into _Destiny_. She had named it Destiny Alpha One. Her intention was reprogram DA-1. Instead of making _Destiny_ believe their Gate was on Earth, they had to make the system believe that _Destiny_ had been destroyed. Once they did that, they should be able to dial the ninth chevron and end up aboard the _Spera_ instead. At least, that was the theory. The practice – however - was turning out to be a major pain in the neck.

"Any luck ?" Colson said.

She was sitting in the same room where the whole group had waited for the sixteenth. With a little help from the Asurans, they had converted the place into a major lab. They had also tied it into the DSI Facility. The Senate had not been happy when they had found out about it, but the people had supported Yorick. And so did the New Asuran Fleet. So there was nothing they could do about the new direction the New Asurans were taking. Not without getting lynched, that was.

"No." Hailey said. "And we need this program to make it aboard _Spera_."

The New Asurans had the Gate addresses of all 82 Colonist-Ursini worlds and had done the math on how much power it would take to dial from them to the Hope Galaxy. But even if they made it to the colonist world that was the closest to _Spera_, they would need the override for the final hop. And that brought up another problem. They needed a power source to do their leapfrogging between the colonies. But the _Destiny_ model Stargates could not handle the output from a ZPM. So they needed another power source to make this work.

"Yeah." He handed Hailey a cup of coffee. "The New Asurans are struggling with the power source as well."

"Got any ideas ?" She smiled. "Don't let this go to your head, but you are the best engineer we have."

"At the moment, I'm also the only engineer we have. But thanks." He gestured towards the laptop. "May I have a look ?"

"Go for it."

Hailey turned the laptop around and Colson sat down at the table. He had barely begun when Aranov came in. The archeologist looked exhausted. He had spent the later couple of days at the DSI Facility, digging through the telemetry archives. His intention had been to find more information about the race that had inhabited the moon they had explored with New Asurans. Alas, it was like trying to find a needle in a massive haystack.

"Well, looks like we're not the only ones having trouble."

"I can't find anything about whoever lived on that moon." Aranov said as he grabbed a chair and joined them at the table. "I was hoping to find something useful about these aliens. But there is nothing."

"I know how you feel." Colson said. "The power source research is not going well either. It's not like power sources grow on trees."

"Grow…." Aranov said. "That's it…..Wraith tech. We use Wraith tech." Colson and Hailey looked at him as if he had grown a second head. "Punch up the schematics of one the colonies."

"Okay." Colson worked the laptop a bit, then turned it so that Hailey and Aranov could see. "What's the plan ?"

"Now, the Nakai were kinda cheap when they build these outposts. They didn't bother to terraform any of these planets. Nor did they give the colonists the technology to terraform the planets themselves. So all these places are towns inside domes." He paused. "We grow a shell around the dome, making sure it is airtight. Then all we have to do, is add a Hyperdrive. And we have a flying city."

"Let's presume that works." Hailey said. "We can't fly those cities through Nakai Home Space without them being destroyed or suffering major damage."

"Can't we ? Atlantis once encountered a Wraith Hive upgraded with one ZPM and it was a monster. With more than one and little help from the New Asurans, we could grow what we need in record time." Aranov said.

"And then what ? Wipe out the Home Space Nakai with a fleet of 82 city ships ?" Colson said. "How does that make us any better than the Nakai ?"

"No." Aranov opened the map with the locations of the Colonist worlds. "We know that the Berserker drones are native to the second galaxy _Destiny_ travelled through with our people aboard. Hence, Destiny Galaxy Two. But the last outpost on the list is in Destiny Galaxy One. Now, we know that replacing a _Destiny_ model Gate with a Pegasus model Gate and then getting it to work with the rest of network is a major pain. That's why replacing 82 Stargates is not a viable option. But if we can get all of them to one place…."

"We'd only have to replace one Gate." Colson said. "And if we tie together all the power of the city-ships, they'd have more than enough power to dial back here. Not to mention we'd have a chance to permanently break the chain."

"Break the chain ?" Hailey said.

"Even if we empty these planets, the Nakai will simply resettle them. That will slow down their progress, but it won't stop their chase of _Destiny_. Once all the Colonists and Ursini are relocated to the Hope Galaxy, we use the ZPMs from the city-ships to destroy as many planets as we can in Destiny Galaxy One." Colson paused. "A ZPM on overload will destroy a whole solar system. And we would have 246 of them, allowing us to create a void. There would be no place to build a replacement settlement. The supply chain would be broken."

"As I see it, there are two problems with this plan." Aranov said. "One, _Spera_ would probably have to cross this void itself. And two, this plan does not deal with the berserker drones. Remember, we have to cross Destiny Galaxy Two as well."

"We don't need the city-ships themselves to create the void." Grogan said. He had walked in while they had been talking and had overheard the conversation after the mention of Wraith technology. "Just the ZPMs. We can use the city ships against the berserker ships. Gather them all in one solar system and they will make too tempting a target for the drones to ignore. And even without ZPMs, those ships should have enough firepower to make them call in all of their ships. So we leave one ZPM in place, lure them in and then…BOOM ! No more berserker drones to worry about."

"And who do we get the crews off the ships before our trap closes ?" Hailey said.

"Who says we need crews ?" Colson said. "We could automate the ships before we set the trap."

"So…." Aranov began. "…now that we have a plan, who is going to tell the Colonel ?"

This left them all looking at each other in uncomfortable silence.

(Stargate Command – Briefing Room – 25 November 2016, 1930)

The official IOA representatives had tried to push Anders and company out. Now that things were slowly coming together, they wanted to step in and claim the glory. But President Mackenzie was not going to let that fly. And he was not the only one to object. So when the President walked into the briefing room, the original team was there. They were accompanied by Landry, O'Neill and Richard Woolsey. Mackenzie gave them a nod and sat down.

"Okay, we all know what we are here for and we all know the plan that Colonel Vale's crew has put forward." He paused. "So, thoughts ?"

"Well, for the record." O'Neill said. "This has to be craziest plan we have ever had. Because we don't have enough people to make this plan fly." There was moans at that unintended pun. "Which means that we're going to have to trust REP-LI-CAT-ORS to make this work."

"There's that." Grankin said. "But they did sort of do this whole unofficial coup d'état against the Senate. Just keep our people there."

"And are we really going to sit on our hands and let millions of people die ?" Valluy added. "Besides, we are millions of lightyears away. It's not like we can stop them by saying no. Would you accept no if you were out there ?"

There was a moment of silence, which Mackenzie broke. "So…." He said. "…we are doing this. But if we pull this off, we're going to need a long term game plan. Can we use the Beta Site to dial _Spera _and establish a supply line ?"

"No." Anders said. "Major Hailey is working to override the normal ninth chevron dial-in sequence. But her program will only work once. After that, the safety protocols will adapt and lock it out." She bit his lower lip. "And the New Asuran version will have the same problem, but…"

Han took over. "….if we can make a deal with New Asurans and get them to send their program to us, we can dial _Spera _once. Based on how the power source held up the first time, we should be able to send twelve people. Which is enough to send a six member medical team and send six new security personnel."

"You do realize we'd actually have to give them something ?" O'Neill said.

"I understand your objections, General." Mackenzie said. "But our alliance with the New Asuran is a fact accompli. And like Mister Valluy pointed out, saying no is not really an option. So, what could we give them ?"

"Seeds and animals." Woolsey said, making everybody look at him. "According to the reports, the ecosystems on the New Asuran planets are rather simple. We could give them the means to do something about that."

"Yeah, I don't get that." O'Neill said. "The Asurans do not need food or air, so why bother with the whole terraforming thing ?"

"True, but the Nakai and Ursini do." Han said. "And remember, they want to emulate the Ancients. So terraforming the planets make sense to them. They probably see the whole thing as a science experiment. And their grand goal is probably to ascend. Which means that their cities would be left behind…."

"….and whoever resettles the cities would probably need air." Mackenzie said. "General Landry ? Your thoughts ?"

"I agree with Jack." Landry began. "This is a crazy plan. But as crazy as this plan is, it's nowhere near as crazy as leaving Colonel Telford team and Young's crew behind."

Mackenzie nodded and leaned back. He thought that the General's assessment was right on the money. And like he had told O'Neill, their alliance with the New Asurans was a fact accompli. So the rest of the IOA could yell and scream until they were blue in the face, but this plan was happening.

(Planet 7 – Field – 29 December 2016, 0807)

It had taken several weeks to set up the plan, which they had codenamed Operation Big Move. They had wanted more time to plan the whole thing, but the New Asurans had learned that the Home Space Nakai were launching their attack today. It would take the assault fleet three weeks to reach the first planet. The New Asurans were still gathering their crews, but the Nova Roma Expedition was ready to go. If they could get the first city moving, the Home Space Fleet would have to travel to the next target. That trip would give the New Asurans time to finish getting their crews together.

At the moment, however, the Expedition team was gathered on the field with the Stargate. The Puddle Jumpers and the supplies had already been send ahead by the New Asurans. And that was not the only thing. They had managed to heal Hetty McConnell's leg and then brought Xander Henderson out of his coma. It had taken Henderson time to get back into shape, but now he was back at work. The only people who were not around, were the three shell shocked Expedition members.

Despite objections from several IOA officials, the alliance between Earth and the New Asurans was now official. The New Asuran Treaty had been signed three days ago. As part of the Treaty, it had been decided to send the shell shocked members back to Earth. Beyond this, they had also managed to make the deal for the New Asuran dial-in program. The program had already been send back to Atlantis, who had then send it back to Earth. Getting the seeds and animals to the New Asurans, however, was a bit more complicated.

The New Asurans would get nineteen military backpacks full of seeds, insects and blood samples of larger species. (There were eighteen New Asuran worlds now. But once the Nakai and Ursini arrived, they intended to colonize and terraform a new planet. Hence, they had asked for nineteen packs.) Using the Beta Site power source to dial the Hope Galaxy had required a major recalibration. Finally, Earth had wanted to establish an outpost in New Asuran space and use it to establish a supply line and serve as a fallback point. Officially, the New Asurans had refused this. But off-the-record, President Mackenzie suspected that they wanted to know the condition of _Spera_ first. Then they would attempt to renegotiate the outpost.

But to Vale, that could wait. Right now, he had a colony to safe. And he had received a wave of reinforcements. The military backpacks had been carried by nineteen new expedition members. Seven of them had been the new medical team, which consisted of six nurses and one doctor, who was the team leader. Doctor Alexander Bennett had been on staff at Stargate Command for several years. There, he had gotten pretty good at reattaching severed limbs. Then – three years ago – he had been promoted to Chief Medical Officer at the Gamma Site. General O'Neill had handpicked him for the mission.

The next six members of the reinforcements had been security personnel. With their arrival, both Teldy and Grogan had a security team under their command again. Completing the reinforcements were six scientists. Added to survivors of the original Expedition, this meant that there were now forty-nine people in the team. Vale was in the front, with Bennett next to him. Bennett was a Caucasian Brit, with green eyes and short red hair.

"Nervous, doc ?" Vale said.

"A bit." Bennett began. "I only went off-world three times. Once at the SGC and twice at the Gamma Site. And now I'm hopping galaxies."

"I know it's a huge change, doc. But if we thought you couldn't handle it, you wouldn't be here." Vale said, getting him a nod from Alex. It was at this point that Henderson joined them. "How are you doing, Corporal ?"

"Good, sir." Henderson said. "But being the boss is a bit odd."

"Yeah, I know how that feels." Henderson was another Brit. But he was of African descent, with brown eyes and short black hair. He had succeeded Victor Leyton as Chief of Maintenance. "Are we ready to dial ?"

"Yes, sir. The ZPM is plugged in and we have the address. So, just give the word."

"Do it."

Henderson nodded and walked to the Dial Home Device. While the corporal dialed, Vale looked at his crew. They were good people and he was proud to be their commanding officer. He was kept from further pondering by the Gate connecting. So he turned back to the Gate. As he approached it, he realized that this was a leap of faith. But sometimes that was part of the job as well. So he took a deep breath and stepped through.


	16. Chapter 15

**15 – Close call**

(Colony One – Control Room – 19 January 2017, 0910)

Three weeks ago, this room had been a warehouse. Now it was a multiple level control room. The place was a mixture of Wraith, New Asuran, Ursini, Nakai and Tau'ri technology. Wraith Hives were grown by injecting a host with a pathogen. In order to make this work, said pathogen had been adjusted. It was something that they would have never been able to pull off without the New Asurans, who had done ninety percent of the work. They had combined the pathogen with a specially developed host that the crew had begun calling Rabbit Seeds.

The first stage had taken two weeks to grow and had been really small. But after that, they had added the ZPMs to the mix. The growth had then gone through the roof. It had taken six days to finish the growth. They had spent the last couple of hours running diagnostics, with the plan being to take off at 1200. Overseeing all these preparations was Hailey's job. She was being helped by Porter, Colson and Bennett. Aranov walked in and whistled.

"Impressive."

"You look exhausted." Porter said.

"I am." He leaned on one of the consoles. "I have been working overtime getting to know the Ursini and the Nakai. The New Asurans provided us with a translator, but their files on the culture of these two races were minimal. I have a lot of catching up to do."

"So, what are they like ?" Bennett asked.

"Friendly. Very alien, but friendly." Aranov said. "So, they drafted you into this as well, doctor ?"

"Well, Wraith technology is organic. It made sense." Bennett began. "Besides, the city has a medical facility with plenty of staff. They can spare me. A couple more diagnostics and we should be…." His sentence was cut off by an alarm. "Okay, that does not sound good."

"It's the Fleet. They're at the edge of long-range sensors." Colson said. "At their current speed, we have six minutes before they reach us." The screen in front of Colson showed a starfield with a lot of red dots, which represented the Nakai ships. Colson figured that there were at least twenty motherships. "And there are a lot of them."

"Skip the rest of the diagnostics." Hailey said. "We're taking off now. Nikita, take a seat and power up that console."

Aranov sat down and activated his console, which turned out to be the weapons station. The dome had come with several particle weapons to come being with. And the growth had included four upgraded Wraith guns. Finally, the New Asurans had send along sixty Ancient drones and the supplies to create a makeshift Control Chair. The chair was sitting on a small level above the area where Hailey and company were manning the consoles.

"Diagnostics have been skipped." Colson said. "Sounding Action Stations now." An alarm began blaring, but Colson quickly turned it off. "Starting take-off sequence."

"Let me guess, the bad guys showed up early." Vale said as he bolted into the room.

"Yeah." Hailey said. "I know it's a cliché, but what can you do ? We're charging the weapons and the hyperdrive now."

"How long until we can jump ?"

"Eleven minutes." Porter said. "But the Nakai can open fire in five. The good news is that we should be able to return the favor. The bad news that if they score one hit to the hyperdrive, we'll be target practice for them."

"What about the sub-lights ?" Vale said.

"Two minutes and counting down." Porter said.

"Good." Vale said as he ran up the stair to the control chair. "Let's see how much they like it if we give them a run for their money."

"You do realize that of all the people here, you put an archeologist behind the weapons !?" Aranov said. "That's like putting a counselor behind the helm."

"Nikita, shut up and shoot !" Hailey said.

Vale sat down in the Control Chair and activated it. He brought up a display with the sublight systems. As the minutes ticked away, all the indicators turned green. After the last did so, he fired up all the sublight drives at full power. The city rattled and everybody grabbed hold of something. At this point, all the stations in the control room where manned. And not only by Humans. The crew was a mix of all three races. The Nakai were only one minute away when the city cleared the atmosphere. Vale took the city away from the planet.

"Thirty seconds to weapons range." Porter said.

"Weapons charged to full." Aranov said, which was followed by a beep. "They're in range of the drones."

Vale fired a wave of drones. It took out two of the Nakai motherships before they could launch their fighters. As they exploded, there was another beep, indicating that the ships were now in range of the rest of the weapons. Aranov opened fire with all the weapons the city had. It took out another mothership. But then the Nakai returned fire. And then they launched their fighters.

"Shields down ten percent !" Colson said. "Five minutes until we can go to hyperspace."

Vale knew that there was no way they could win a straight up slugging match with the Fleet. There were simply to many of them. But he had a plan. The system only had two planets, but it had plenty of asteroids. They were located in a belt between the planets. Despite what many science fiction movies claimed, there were huge holes between the asteroids. And normally, you would not even notice that you were passing through one. But Vale not heading there to play cat-and-mouse.

"Incoming fighters !" Porter said.

"I see them !" Aranov said.

He fired the weapons again, while Vale unleashed another wave of drones. Six of the incoming fighters went up and Aranov took out another eight. But there were still plenty of them coming. Suddenly – however – there was another wave of fire. Ironically, the colony had two ships to defend itself from attackers. Vale had ordered them to hide themselves behind one of the asteroids. He had drawn the Fleet to the belt so that they could join the fight. (If they had been in orbit when the fleet arrived, they would have been blasted to piece by the first salvo.) Besides the Nakai ships, there were also six Ursini ships.

The Home Space Fleet tried to fire at the friendly Nakai ships, but hit the asteroid instead. Which was why Vale had ordered them to hide there. The Colonist ships threw their fighters at the enemy ships. Said fighters made kamikaze runs at the enemy. What the enemy did not know, but Vale did, was that the ships were on autopilot. The fighters took out dozens of their Home Space counterparts and one of the motherships. They were followed by the Ursini ships, which were also on autopilot. The Ursini – or well, their ships – managed to take out two more ships. But the fighters kept coming.

"Shields down to seventy-two percent !" Colson said.

"I can't shoot them all down !" Aranov said.

Vale unleashed all the remaining drones, taking out a whole bundle of fighters. He ran down the stairs and made his way towards one of the consoles against the outer wall of the room. It was being manned by an Ursini called T'Zalo. (That was not his real name, but translating Ursini and Nakai names was practically impossible. And they understood that.)

"T'Zalo, engage the teleporter !"

"Yes, sir."

The two friendly ships were carrying skeleton crews. It had come as a surprise that the Ursini had teleporters, but Vale had not complained. As soon as the two ships were empty, their self-destructs systems triggered. The explosions did not do any damage, but they did send out two massive waves of electro-magnetic energy. Any fighter touched by those waves lost power. Aranov made quick work of them.

"Time !?" Vale said.

"Two minutes." Hailey said.

The Home Space Fleet fired again. With the Control Chair off-line, the job of flying the city had fallen to Hailey. She managed to dodge some of the incoming fire. But plenty of the enemy shots still hit.

"Shields down to fifty-five percent power !" Colson said. "They're targeting…."

Before he could finish his sentence, a fleet of alien spaceships dropped out hyperspace. They were unlike any ships they had ever seen before. The ships were oval shape and roughly the same size at a Goa'uld Ha'tak-class mothership. Aranov counted eight of them. They opened fire on the Home Space Fleet, while forming a barrier between them and the city-ship.

"Didn't this happen last time ?" Porter said. "Aliens riding to the rescue ?"

"Who cares ?" Vale said. "Hailey, get us out of here !"

Aranov maintained fire, taking out more fighters and putting a couple of holes in one the motherships. At the same time, the newcomers were also putting down heavy fire. They took out fighters and destroyed four motherships. Then they jumped into hyperspace. The Home Space Fleet moved towards the city-ship, but it was already to late. A beep announced that their time was up.

"Hyperdrive is ready." Colson said.

"Go !" Vale said. "Jump this puppy."

The city-ship opened a hyperspace window and entered it. Two of the Nakai ships tried to follow, but the city-ship was many times faster. It quickly pulled out of their sensor range. The moment they did, Hailey dropped the city out of hyperspace. She used the thrusters to turn it and then took it back into hyperspace.

"So, what just happened ?" Vale said.

"I think I have part of the answer." Aranov said. "Look at this…" He brought an image of one of the alien ships up on his screen. Then he zoomed in on a section of the hull. It showed alien writing. "…that is the same writing we found on the desert moon. And this…" He pointed to a larger symbol. "….appears to be some kind of logo."

"That is the Seal of the Jynacko Empire." T'Zalo said.

"You've heard of this race ?" Vale said. "And you did not say ?"

"Nobody asked, so I presumed you knew." T'Zalo said. "Sorry. Neither we or the Nakai Colonists know much about them. We do know that they rule about a quarter of the galaxy containing Home Space, which is the rest of the galaxy. Relations between the Nakai and the Jynacko are tense. The Nakai have superior numbers, but the Jynacko have better technology. And thus there is a balance."

"Preventing open warfare." Porter said.

"But out here, where the ships cannot easily report back, they can strike." Vale said. "And when the ships fail to return, who will get the blame ?...We. It serves the Empire's purposes if the Home Space Nakai lose this…war of attrition." Vale scratched his face. "Because if the Nakai lose, they will have to spend resources on resettling those worlds. Thus reducing the Nakai's numbers."

"It is believed by some of the Colonists that the reason the Nakai are obsessed with the Destroyer, is the Empire." T'Zalo said. "They want the secrets and knowledge of the Des…tiny so that they can advance their technology and wipe out the Empire."

Vale leaned against one of the consoles. One of the things had learned after coming out of stasis, was how to play chess. He and Colson had played many a game during his time at the Beta Site. And so had he and Hailey. While he and Aranov had played lots of checkers and poker. Finally, his father had taught him a lot of games as well. And that was not even counting his official strategic training. He had a feeling that he would need all of that knowledge for them to survive this game.

(Colony One – Control Room – 19 January 2017, 1200)

Things had calmed down and the control room was running on a skeleton crew. In the central area, that was just Colson and T'Zalo. Before he had found out about the Stargate program, Colson had considered aliens the thing of science fiction. But now, here he was. Having gone from business man and engineer to crewmember on alien starship. Which was on its way to rescue a group of people who were stranded on another alien starship. And he was crewing it along with an alien to boot.

When they had arrived, he had thought that the plan would be really complicated. Fortunately, they had quickly learned that the colonies were not just domes, they were enclosed modules. It turned out that the Nakai had designed these colonies so that they could be moved. But the domes were not fitted with engines. They needed to be towed by a mothership. The modules were also not airtight. But the refit had taken care of all that. He leaned on the console and sighed.

"What is bothering you, Mister Colson ?" T'Zalo said.

"I am thinking about this mission." Colson began. "And how it has already changed the universe."

"Doctor Aranov told me about _Destiny_ and its mission. And what it is about." T'Zalo sat next to Colson. "How decoding the message she is chasing would change the universe. But I think you are right. Thinking it works like that is short-sighted. The mission itself is changing existence already. It has saved us from the Home Space Nakai."

"What did you do before we came ?"

"Me ?" T'Zalo looked at him. "I was an engineer. My grandfather was on the team that created our Gate remote. It is a big, heavy machine. So we put together a team to invent an improved version. I got lucky and was made team leader. Is it true that you are an engineer as well ?"

"Yes." Colson said. "What happened to that project ?"

"It was put on hold when we found out about the Nakai threat."

"Well, we have several months to pass." Colson said. "And we have technology from five races to work with. How would you feel about asking permission to get back to work ?"

"I think that is an excellent idea."

Colson and T'Zalo continued to talk, with neither of them being aware that Vale was watching them. Vale was well aware that their trip would be long. The hyperdrive they had grown was not as efficient as the Ancient hyperdrive that had driven _Nova Roma_. It would take them roughly seven months to reach Colony Eighty-Two. And in that time, they would have to share the city with the Nakai and the Ursini. Colson and T'Zalo were not the only ones developing…contact. Aranov was talking to plenty of the locals. And Hailey and Porter were often seen together with alien scientists. By the time they arrived at the planet, the Expedition would be integrated into the society of the city.

"Saying goodbye will not be easy." A female voice said.

Vale turned to see Governor Carossa standing behind him. Carossa was a female Nakai, who was the leader of Colony One. After Yorick had explained about the threat they were facing, she had given Vale command of all the military personnel in the city. (Meaning Human, Ursini and Nakai.) The colonel had taken an instant liking to the Governor. She was not the kind to pull punches.

"Yeah, I was thinking about that." Vale said. "And the fact that we are short on personnel." He paused. "There forty-nine of us now. Let's presume that we managed to rescue Colonel Telford's team and get twelve people from Earth. That's twenty-seven people. So, best case scenario, we have seventy-six people."

"Why do I have a feeling there is more to it ?"

"Who are we to take _Destiny_ for ourselves ? What give us the right to monopolize that ship ?" He paused. "Rush said that we can make things better if we finish _Destiny_'s mission. But who decides what is better ? Who are we to play God ?" He looked at Carossa. "I have studied enough of history to know that it never ends well."

"I am surprise to hear you be so philosophical. From what Nikita told me, the Roman Empire expected its soldiers to follow orders without question."

"The Roman Empire was not born to my mother." Vale said. "She drilled a lot of things into her children. Some that father did not agree with. But she refused to yield and did it anyway. No matter how much father yelled at her."

"I like her." She paused. "And you are right to ask these questions. Perhaps the power of _Destiny_ is too much for one race to handle. The fact that you have the wisdom to ask these questions give me hope. But what of your superiors ? From what Nikita said, neither the military or the civilians have much faith in this….IOA ?"

Vale nodded. "Yeah, I am going to have to ask some serious questions and have some serious conversations. But first I have to do some thinking about who to direct those questions and conversations to. I'll be in my room."

Vale walked away, leaving Carossa to watch T'Zalo and Colson. She was no expert on Earth politics, but she knew that some things were…universal. And she had a feeling that Vale's superiors would not like his questions.


	17. Chapter 16

**16 – Spera at Last**

(Stargate Command – Daniel Jackson's Office – 3 July 2017, 2310)

Daniel Jackson was exhausted. He had just been on a mission to P2G-192, while had included a very long negotiation. The locals had been divided between three countries. It had been his job to oversee a fusion of the three nations. But that had been easier said than done. Now, he was finally writing his report on the outcome. (The treaty was signed and fusion was complete.) Suddenly, a knock made him look up. It was President Mackenzie, who walked into his office.

"I heard your mission to P2G-192 was as success, Doctor Jackson."

"Yes, sir. I am working on the final report now."

"It can wait." Mackenzie grabbed a stool and sat across Jackson. "I need your opinion about something, doctor." He reached into his pocket and took out a piece of paper. "I got a letter from Lieutenant-Colonel Vale. He wants permission to recruit Nakai, Ursini and New Asuran volunteers into his crew. My first instinct is to turn down his request, but…" He leaned on Jackson's desk. "…Vale asked some very good questions."

"No offense, sir. But isn't that what we pay him for ?"

"True." Mackenzie said with a smile. "But that doesn't change the fact that I want your opinion."

Mackenzie gave Jackson the letter. He opened it and read it. And Vale had indeed asked some very good questions. It reminded Jackson of an argument he had once had with then-Colonel O'Neill. SG-1 had been off-world on a mission to a place called Euronda. Daniel had asked some hard questions, which O'Neill had not wanted to hear. But in the end, O'Neill had changed his mind and told him to ask his questions. The answers had not been pretty. But they had kept Stargate Command from supporting the wrong side in a war. (It had turned out that the people they had considered helping were basically fascists.) He finished reading the letter, then put it down.

"Well, I didn't know if we are worthy of controlling _Destiny_…" Jackson began. "…but I do know that there are people aboard that ship who will die if we don't rescue them. And that we can't let the Nakai or the Lucian Alliance have it. If either of them get it, they will use its secrets to massacre millions."

"Yeah, there's that."

"As for monopolizing _Destiny_ as a race…." He leaned back and looked at Mackenzie. "I know the people aboard _Destiny_ have had issues with both the Ursini and the Nakai in the past. But if these people were going to stab us in the back, they would have done it by now. Hailey finished the dial-in program a week ago. And they know how to fly the city by now. They would have killed our people and taken the city for themselves." Jackson paused. "And the New Asurans have been holding up their end of the deal as well. They signed a treaty with us, when they didn't have to."

"Anything else ?"

"Well, we have to remember that we have no idea what exactly is at the end of the line." Jackson said. "We have no idea what the message that _Destiny_ is trying to decrypt is. We also need to remember that there is a difference between monopolizing _Destiny_ and monopolizing the good that can come from _Destiny_."

Mackenzie nodded. He realized that there was a major difference between the two. And that the second was a much more important issue then the first. The first was also much easier to fix then the second. Which was exactly what Colonel Vale was asking permission to do. He realized that his first reaction was how the IOA would have reacted. Mackenzie cursed himself, then nodded for Jackson to continue.

"Finally, we have a problem. Even if we manage to convince the New Asuran to let us build an outpost on a planet in the Hope Galaxy, setting up a supply line will not be easy. The original plan to dial-in with the reprogramming sub-routine did not work. And we both know that we can only dial _Spera_ twice. This might be our only chance to increase the number of people aboard _Spera_. And until Vale gets his people aboard _Destiny_, we can't use the Beta Site to dial the ninth chevron."

"Good point." Mackenzie said. "Now, I am going to talk to General Landry. And you should get to bed." He smiled at Jackson. "P2G-192 might be a pain in the ass, but it won't end if turn in that report tomorrow."

"I'm not so sure about that, sir." Jackson said.

"Bed, now."

And with that, Mackenzie walked out. Jackson tried to continue working on the report, but a yawn made him realize that Mackenzie was right. So he saved the file, turned off his computer and went to find a bed.

(Colony One – Control Room – 25 August 2017, 0711)

They were approaching Colony Eighty-Two. And there was plenty of good news to go around. All the cities had escaped from the Home Space Nakai. Furthermore, they had managed to thin out the Fleet to five motherships and a handful of fighters. And in the end, those ships had been forced to turn around. At the same time, President Mackenzie – along with the team of IOA representatives and several other heads of state – had given him permission to go ahead with recruiting volunteers from their alien allies.

Finally, Doctor Jackson had managed to bypass the problem with the New Asurans not wanting them to set up an outpost on one of their planets. Instead, they had asked the Ursini and Colonists to create an outpost on their world. And they had agreed. Vale was glad to hear that piece of good news. But he wondered what good the outpost would do. So he leaned against the Engineering console and asked Colson.

"Well, l looked at the logs of the ninth chevron dial-in. And it's a miracle the whole complex didn't explode when Colonel Telford and his team went through." He looked at Vale. "The folks back home have been working on it since we left. They have made a lot of upgrades on the place already. But if there is one thing we have learned during this mission, Plan A rarely works."

"Yeah, there's that."

"So, Plan B is to use the Beta Site to dial the outpost and then dial _Destiny_ from there."

"Yeah, you did remind them that this whole software-override thing doesn't work ?" Vale said. "We'll be lucky if we can get aboard _Spera_ and get one wave of reinforcements."

"Yes, they said they were working on that."

Before they could continue their conversation, a loud – and very annoying – claxon sounded. Colson killed it, while Vale ran to the Control Chair. As he sat down, Colson announced that they were two minutes from dropping out of hyperspace. Vale activated the chair. Then he waited for the clock to hit zero. The moment it did, he dropped the city out. Then he left the chair and ran down the stairs. Hailey and T'Zalo were now flying the city.

"Right on course." T'Zalo said.

"Excellent." He turned to Porter, who was monitoring the sensors." Alison, what do we have on the long-range units ?"

"Checking." She worked her console. A cluster of dots appeared on her display, along with a circle. Inside the circle was another dot. "One planet with a colony on it. And eighty city-ships in orbit." She hit several more keys and the display zoomed in. "Everybody is here, and there are zero hostiles on scanners."

"Life-signs and ZPM count, please."

"Zero life-signs and zero ZPMs in orbit. One ZPM and thirty-two life-signs down on the planet."

"Thirty-one volunteers ?" Vale asked. The last life-sign belonged to a technician, who had stayed behind to help with the evacuation of Colony One to the Hope Galaxy.

"Plus another ten from this colony." Carossa said as she walked into the control room. "Six Ursini and four Nakai, including Mister T'Zalo." She turned to T'Zalo. "Mister T'Zalo, front and center." T'Zalo swallowed and left his console. "I am happy to announce that, by order of the Ruling Council of Governors of the Nakai-Ursini Alliance, you have been granted the rank of Senior Master Sergeant in the Fleet." And with that, she put two small, golden discs on his shoulders. "Now, land this city, Sergeant."

"You heard the lady." Vale said. "Sarge."

"Yes, sir."

T'Zalo took his seat and set to landing the city. Vale smiled and watched as they approached the planet. The integration of his crew has just begun in earnest. But for now, they had other things to worry about.

(Colony Eighty-Two – Control Room – 25 August 2017, 1605)

The control room of this colony was different from the one back on Colony One. There was no Control Chair and the Flight Control console was much simpler. This was because she only had to fly on auto-pilot during the mission. The control room also housed a Pegasus Model Stargate. This was the Gate the other colonies had used to evacuate to the Hope Galaxy. At the moment, the people of Colony One were moving through it. The Gate was powered by the last ZPM and all the power city-ships could muster. Colony One and Colony Eighty-Two were wired in the old-fashioned way, while the city-ships in orbit transmitted power down. Hailey, Grogan and Colson were overseeing the evacuation.

"Is this the last group ?" Vale said.

"Yes, sir." Grogan said. "We're the only ones left."

The last colonists stepped through the Gate. Five seconds later, they received a signal from the other side. Which indicated that everybody had made it. Colson cut the power and the Gate disengaged. Vale turned and gestured towards the door. The four of them made their way to a room they were using as a staging area. (It had been a mess hall before they had commandeered it, so it was big.) Despite taking as much as they could, they had lost a lot of gear when they had evacuated _Nova Roma_. But then they had picked up some stuff in the Hope Galaxy. And now, the Expedition was taking what they could from Colony Eighty-Two. So they were actually pretty well supplied and stocked.

"I still think it's weird." Grogan said.

"It makes sense to me." Colson said. "What ? We're one crew now."

The Expedition now consisted of 49 Humans – or Tau'ri, as the aliens members had begun calling them – 10 Nakai, 17 New Asurans and 14 Ursini. But it was a little bit harder to tell them apart now. Because it had been decided that everybody would now wear the Icarus Base uniform. Well, sort of. The only difference was that the Icarus Base patch had been replaced by a Nova Roma Patch. The patch was a blue circle with a silver sword.

Around this was a red border with black letters. The bottom half had the person's name and rank. In case of the civilians, the rank was replaced by either the title or position. The top half said: _Nova Roma Expedition – Earth / Hope Galaxy Alliance._ Making the uniforms for the Ursini and Nakai had not been easy. (The sizes had to altered.) But they had succeeded.

The room was a beehive of activity and making oneself heard would not be easy. So Vale put his fingers in his mouth and whistled. Everybody stopped what they were doing and looked at him.

"Okay, people, I know it's been a long and difficult road…." He began. "….and I know that we're not there yet. But this is it. The colonies are empty. The autopilots have been programmed. The ZPMs have been planted by the defense ships assigned to this colony…." This had happened while they had still been on-route. "And we are about try and dial _Spera_." If the Gate failed to connect, they would join the others in the Hope Galaxy and dial back to Earth from there. "You all know what it means if you board that ship. And the price that this Expedition might ask of its members. So I am giving you all one last to withdraw your anticipation…"

This was the point of no return. Once you were on that ship, your chances of seeing home – your friends, your family – ever again were slim. And everybody knew it. So he was giving them the option to change their minds. But all he got in reply was silence. So he nodded. ~Make or break time.~

"…okay, let's do this."

The Expedition Team, eighty strong, began moving into the Control Room. Hailey went to the Flight Control console and typed in a code. There was a beep as the computer acknowledged the command and a countdown began. In one hour, the autopilot would engage and fly both Colony One and Colony Eighty-Two in orbit, where they would join the other ships. And five minutes after that, the Fleet would leave for Galaxy Destiny Two to do their part against the Berserker Drones. Next, she keyed in another code and waited. There was another beep and another countdown started. This one began at fifteen minutes. When it hit zero, the first ZPM would overload. The rest would detonate at one minute intervals after that. Finally, she moved over to the Engineering console. She put several commands and there was a beep. That done, she turned to Vale.

"Countdowns engaged, sir." Hailey began. "Override program activate."

"Good." Vale said.

Vale walked to the DHD and began dialing. As he did so, Porter used a remote to line up a MALP. They had cobbled it together from parts they had found around Colony One. The final chevron locked and the wormhole formed. He nodded to Porter, who then drove the MALP through. One of the consoles lit up with readings and a video feed from a camera on the MALP. Aranov looked at the readings.

"The air reads as breathable and pressure is stable. I can't see any hull breaches on the video feed." He hit some keys. "I recommend we check the air scrubbers as soon as we get there though. And power is low, so we'll have to address that as well."

"Radiation levels ?"

"Minimal." Aranov said. "We have a go."

Vale nodded and stepped through the Gate. The MALP was right next to the Stargate. He took a spare remote from the MALP and drove it towards the hull. This remote had a small screen, so that he could it use to inspect the hull closer. As he did so – confirming Aranov's initial assessment – the rest of the team came through the Gate. Finally, the Puddle Jumpers came through. Then the wormhole disengaged. And after all that had happened, they were on their way to _Destiny_ at last.


	18. Chapter 17

**1 – Refitting**

(Spera – Main Space – Day 1, 2317)

Vale inspected the stand he had just attached to the floor. As they had expected, the main deck Spera had been one large, empty space. There were lower decks, which held the communications relays and the fabrication/deployment area. Vale had declared those decks to be off-limits, except for maintenance. Above the deck with Gate were three more decks. Two decks up were the airlock and the bridge. The top and between decks were just empty space. Satisfied with the stand, he put the MALP remote – the model with a screen – in one of two specially designed slots. The other slot would hold the Mark Two Gate Remote that T'Zalo and Colson had developed. He put the Gate Remote in. Then he took a pair of cables and set to connecting the remotes to the main power grid. (There was a plug-in point in the floor.) The two remotes where then connected to one another.

"Now all we need is the diagnostic console and we have ourselves a Gate Room." He said.

"Almost done." Colson said, who was working on the diagnostic console. "I'm running the final checks now."

"Diagnostics on the diagnostics consoles ?" Vale said with a grin.

They had turned the large space in smaller rooms by building frames of wooden beams with short metal pipes at each end. This was so they could be welded into place. Next, they had put fabric between the beams. There had been three layers of cloth, with space between them. They had then filled that space with a special foam the New Asurans had developed. It had hardened and made the walls as solid as they were going to get.

(Although – if they could get enough material and a supply of nails – Vale intended to add a layer of wood over the outer layers of fabric.) The Gate Room had two openings in the walls. One to the left, which lead to the Jumper Bay. And one directly across from the Gate. (They didn't have enough material to make doors in all rooms, but that was also on Vale's to do-list.) It was through this passage that Jennifer Hailey came in. And the look on her face was not encouraging.

"Why do I have a feeling you are not about to give me good news ?" Vale said.

"I have finished the math on the life-support." Hailey began. "The number I got back was one-hundred and twenty permanent inhabitants, sir. Which means…"

"We cannot move Colonel Young's crew here. Great." Vale began. "Any good news ?"

"Nikita has started the program to crack the master code." Hailey said. "He said that because this is the Alpha Site of the project, the code is probably not as complex as the one for _Destiny_. So it should be faster than cracking the original code was. Also, he figured that the reason this ship has only room for a hundred-and-twenty people, is because the official skeleton crew number for _Destiny_ is one-hundred and twenty-five."

"So the Ancients considered one-hundred and twenty the cut-off point ?"

"Yeah." Hailey nodded. "Also, Porter has found the DSI Network interface. She's already has the translation terminal up and running. So we can start sending things back and forth with Atlantis right away. And the refit work is on schedule. There should be enough room for all of the crew. But the rooms won't be very big or luxurious."

"So….what do you think we should do with the top deck ?" It was a small deck located above the bridge and then stretching back towards the airlock. "There have been several suggestions."

"Well, I think we'll need a briefing room. But we need all the space we have down here." Hailey said. "And there should be just enough space left for a locker room, so that the teams can gear up there as well."

"Do it."

"Yes, sir."

Hailey nodded and walked out, while Vale returned his attention to the Gate Room.

(Spera – Vale's Quarters – Day 2, 0405)

Vale closed the door behind him. (It was not really a door, but a flap of fabric.) The refit was on schedule and he needed sleep. As Hailey had said, the room was indeed small and bare. His bags were against one of the walls. But he decided that he would unpack them later. He took off his shoes and coveralls. Then he got rid of his watch and lay down. He woke up four hours later. ~Better, much better.~ He rubbed his eyes and sat back up. ~Time to unpack those bags.~

He began unpacking his bags. The bulk of the stuff in there was standard issue gear, but one of the bags had personal stuff. There was a picture of his old Search and Rescue unit. Next came his old Roman uniform and sword. He took the sword from it sheath and ran his finger across it. The sword was still sharp. ~Hello, old friend.~ He smiled and put it back. The next object was a folder with several blueprints. He had one of the Beta Site, one of _Nova Roma_, one of Atlantis, one of _Destiny_ and one of level twenty-eight of Stargate Command. Finally, there was a leather bomber jacket he had gotten from a World War Two veteran called Victor Peterson. Peterson had been one of his neighbors in New York. When he had died, he had left the jacket to Vale in his will.

"I wonder what you would say if you knew about this mission, Victor ?"

The old man probably would have volunteered for the mission, Vale realized with a smile. His room was just a few millimeters wider than the length of his bed. So he stood on his bed as he mounted the blueprints above it with tape. Next, he mounted his sword closer to the door. (He taped the sheath to the wall at an angle so that the sword did not fall out.) Finally, he taped the photo across from the sword. There was a locker from him to put his old uniform and the bomber jacket into. He put the helmet at the bottom of the locker. Finally, he put his three spare uniforms in there. The rest of the stuff would end up in the ship's supply room, once they had it. He had just closed his locker, when there was a knock at the door.

"Enter."

Aranov, Hailey and Porter came in. They all appeared a bit more relaxed than usual. Now that they were aboard the _Spera_, they could let their guard down a bit. Aranov was carrying a clipboard with a pile of paper.

"We've got a problem, sir." He said. "We don't have enough space."

"How bad is it ?"

"We don't have room for the hydroponics bay, mess hall, infirmary, isolation ward and kitchen." He gestured at the room. "And you know that the quarters are not really roomy either."

Vale nodded. Besides, the bed and the locker, there was no furniture in the room. He figured that his room was two, maybe three square meters. It had still not been easy to fit everybody on the two decks they had to work with. Vale scratched his face and walked out of his room, with the others following him.

"Okay, what's the lay-out now ?"

"I made you some blueprints." Aranov said. "They're crude, but you'll get the point."

He studied the blueprints and realized that they had not wasted any space. The ship was simply too small. If they had made it here aboard _Nova Roma_, they would have been able to expand the ship. However, because they had lost the tower, that was not an option. And without these rooms, long-term survival would be a lot harder. Fortunately, they had realized that this might happen and had come up with a Plan B.

"Okay, break out the Rabbit Seed and plug it in."

"Yes, there is something about that…" Porter said. "…we can do it. But it will cost us the airlock. We'll have to start on the bridge deck, grow through the airlock and then up. So we won't be able to dock with _Destiny_ if we get there the old-fashioned way."

"One problem at a time." Vale said. "Get started."

"You're the boss." Porter nodded and turned to Aranov. "Nikita, can you give me a hand ?"

"Sure."

Porter and Aranov left. It would take several days to grow the expansion. But they had brought enough food and water for several weeks, so they would be fine. He turned to Hailey.

"Will we have enough power for all the equipment in the expansion ?"

"Yes." She said. "The real sticky part is getting the expansion inside the FTL-field, so it doesn't get ripped off when we go in and out of FTL. We'll basically have to build an extra FTL module and tune it in with the existing drive. And any left over power will have to be channeled into the current drive as well."

"If anybody can do it, you can." Vale said.

"Thank you, sir."

"If you need me, I'll be on the bridge."

Hailey nodded and Vale headed towards the bridge. There were two spiral staircases which connected the decks, along with a platform lift. The lift was too small to hold the Puddle Jumpers, but they had modified the unit into a means for moving wounded. He reached the bridge deck. The space between the bridge and the airlock was filled with supplies. They were on shelves and in lockers. Then he reached the bridge itself. It was separated from the rest of the ship by an airlock door, which opened as he approached.

"Nice." He said

He had not been on the bridge yet. So he took his time exploring the place. The rear section of the room had three consoles, which were connected to a central device. This was not a console, but some kind of cooling and connection hub. There were a couple of steps down to the forward section. First came the command chair. It was a chair flanked by two C-shaped control panels. Vale ran his hand across the control panel. ~Nice.~

The chair was empty, so he sat down in it. In front of the Command Chair was a much larger C-shaped console. This console had three stations, each of which its own chairs. The left and middle consoles were the science consoles, while the right one was Flight Control. The Engineering functions were all handled by the three consoles in the rear section. Finally, there were two sets of steps flanking the Science and Flight Control set. These led to the most forward section of the bridge. There were two L-shaped consoles here. The right one was Flight Control Two, while the left one was a Tactical Station. This section also had two windows. These could be protected by closing a pair of blast shutters.

Vale leaned back in the Command Chair. Part of him still couldn't believe that he was out here – in the middle of nowhere – in command of a spaceship, with some of the crew being aliens.

"You have come a long way." A voice said. "In more ways than one."

He turned to see his mother – Octavia Valerius the Elder - standing in the rear section. Vale got up and approached her. The woman who was standing there, looked like his mother. But there was something different about her. He tried to touch her, but his hand passed through her. And then he remembered that _Destiny_ was run by an artificial intelligence. So why would _Spera_ not have such a program as well ?

"_Spera_, I presume ?"

"Always on guard." Octavia said with a smile. "But yes, I am _Spera_'s Artificial Intelligence."

"Not I mind the company…" Vale began. "…but, why are you here ? _Destiny_'s AI only showed up after we cracked the Master Code. And we're still working on that."

"Well, the Ancients whom programmed me figured that when I had to get to work, things would be pretty bad." She said. "Since I am what you call the Alpha Site of the project."

"Makes sense to me." Vale said. "So…anything specific you wanted to talk about ?"

"No." Octavia said. "I just wanted to say hello. But you will see me again, Colonel."

And with that, she faded out. Vale smiled and walked out of the bridge. There were eighty people aboard _Spera_, but it was now crystal clear that the old girl had a mind of her own. Yes, this would be a very different mission.


	19. Chapter 18

**2 – Visit**

(Pentagon – Homeworld Command – Day 8, 0758)

President Robert Mackenzie walked into General O'Neill's office. He was wearing jeans and a white T-shirt. Also, he had told his Secret Service agents to wait outside of Homeworld Command. O'Neill got to his feet.

"Mister President."

"Jack, let's do this."

The two of them headed for the Communications Room. There were two chairs waiting for them. Along with two Ancient Stones and a communications device. They sat down. Mackenzie picked up one of the stones and looked at O'Neill. ~Okay, swapping bodies with somebody millions of light-years away.~ O'Neill put his stones on the device and he followed suit. His body felt weird for a bit and then…

(Spera – Briefing Room – Day 8, 0800)

…he was in a room what was clearly of Ancient design. He spotted a mirror and saw his reflection. The face of Doctor Nikita Aranov looked back at him. Alec Colson was also in the room, along with Colonel Vale and Major Hailey. As he looked around, he realized that he was in the briefing room. He was sitting at an oval table with six chairs. Colson was sitting next to him, while Vale and Hailey were standing. He turned to Colson.

"Jack, you in there ?"

"I am here, sir."

"Welcome aboard the _Spera_, sirs." Vale said.

"Colonel." O'Neill said. "So, you think it's appropriate to have a general appear as a civilian ?"

"Sorry about that, sir." Vale began. "But the IOA representatives wanted an update on the refit. Colson and Aranov drew the short straw and had to go, sir. Well, that and everybody else was busy…"

"Shall we get moving ?" Mackenzie said.

"Yes, sir." Vale said.

O'Neill and Mackenzie stood up, after which Vale led them out of the room. Mackenzie had a feeling that this was going to be a very interesting day.

(Spera – Bridge – Day 8, 0914)

_Spera_ was indeed a very interesting vessel. The Wraith expansion was done. This was because on the third day of the mission, the ship had recharged in a star. They had channeled a massive amount of power into growth after this. This had allowed them to complete the growth yesterday. Now the crew was busy installing the gear and getting the new rooms up and running. It had not escaped Mackenzie's notice that – even with the expansion – _Spera_ was extremely cramped. They had just walked onto the bridge when there was an alarm. Porter was sitting at one of the Science stations. She turned to Vale.

"Colonel, we just broke the Master Code."

"Excellent timing." Vale began. "Doctor Porter, President Mackenzie and General O'Neill."

"General, Mister President." Porter said with a nod.

"So…" Mackenzie began. "…does that mean we have full control of the ship now ?"

"Yes, sir." Porter said, while hitting some keys. "And we should also be able to calculate our position along _Destiny_'s course now." She hit several more keys. "The computer says that it should take about a minute, sir. But we do know that we are a couple of galaxies behind _Destiny_, sir."

The door opened and T'Zalo came in. At first, Mackenzie had been surprised at the sight of the Ursini and Nakai members of the crew. Especially since they were in the Nova Roma Expedition uniforms. But now he was used to it. (Because the New Asurans were so human like, they actually looked very natural in the uniforms.)

"General, Mister President." He said. "Rumor had it that I can finally get to work flying this beauty."

"You sure can, Sarge." Vale said, before he turning to Mackenzie. "He is the best pilot we have, so I made him Chief."

"Shouldn't there have been a memo ?" O'Neill said.

"Makes sense to me." Mackenzie said, getting him a look from O'Neill. "What ? You want him to promote to the worst pilot ?"

"There's that."

There was a beep, indicating that the calculation of their position was complete. Porter hit some keys and a projection appeared above her console. It should _Destiny_'s course. Porter zoomed in on a section and two red dots appeared. One at the top of the display – which was marked as _Destiny_ – and one at the bottom, which Mackenzie figured was _Spera_. There were three galaxies between two ships.

"Let's hear it, doctor."

"This is Galaxy Destiny Three." She let out a sigh of relief. "They made it across the void. But…" She swallowed. "…there is no way to know if Eli Wallace is still alive." Mackenzie put his hand on her shoulder. She took a deep breath and continued. "We are here, in Galaxy Delta Alpha. Based on this, we are approaching the edge of this galaxy. There should be eight, maybe nine more stops before we leave it."

"So now would be a good time to get the Beta Site reinforcements aboard." Mackenzie said. "What do you need, Colonel ?"

"Well, we have plenty of people who are qualified to fly the Puddle Jumpers." Vale began. "But, right now, Sergeant T'Zalo and Private Patterson are the only full time pilots we have. We need six full timers, preferably rated on Jumpers and F-302's."

"What about the other six slots ?"

"I'd like four extra security people…." Right now, the count was eight out of ninety. "…and two more medical people. We need two people to train as medical experts on the Ursini and Nakai. Some of our alien volunteers have First Aid training for their species, but I want more."

"Okay, we'll make it…" Mackenzie was cut off by a beep from the empty Science console next to Porter. He sat down at the console and hit several keys. "What ? I did my homework." Mackenzie had read everything he could on _Destiny_ and practiced on a duplicate console that the Air Force had built in his office at his request. "And we have two Stargates in range now."

"Sergeant T'Zalo, drop us out of FTL." Vale said.

As the ship dropped out of FTL, Mackenzie was suddenly back on Earth. He was standing in the Briefing Room at Stargate Command. But before he could say anything, he was back aboard _Spera_. He turned to Vale.

"How did the expansion take the drop out ?"

"Zero damage, sir."

"Good." He turned to O'Neill. "General, I believe we have some work to do."

"Yes, sir."

The two of them headed for the briefing room. Mackenzie had a feeling that this would not be as easy as advertised. But he had no intention of giving up. He had said that he would make it happen, so he would.

(Spera – Gate Room – Day 8, 0920)

Vale walked into the Gate Room and found Xander Henderson at the Stargate controls. He was already dialing the Gate, while also getting the MALP ready. At the moment, they only had one MALP. But Henderson was already working on piecing together more units. _Destiny_ had flying cameras ball called Kino's, which served as their MALPs. Alas, the _Spera_ crew did not have any.

"What do we have, Corporal ?"

"Two Gates in range. One is locked out, so I took the liberty of dialing up the other."

The Gate connected and Henderson send the MALP through. Vale looked at the screen and the telemetry coming in. The planet was a desert world with brown sand. There were, however, some palm trees in the distance. And the atmosphere read as breathable. Vale took out his radio and opened a channel. (It had taken some time, but they had managed to tie the radios into the Ancient communications system.)

"NR-1 to the Gate Room." He said. "Repeat, NR-1 to the Gate Room."

They had put together five SG-teams. Except that instead of SG, they were using NR. NR-1 was Nova Roma 1. The other teams were NR-2 through NR-5. Vale was in command of NR-1, which was the General Recon team. He had assigned Alison Porter to his team to cover the Science and Engineering angle. Next came Private Alexia Patterson, who was the team pilot. She also had medical training. Patterson was from the United Kingdom. She had causcasian skin, red hair in a pixie cut and sharp, blue eyes.

Rounding out NR-1 was G'Yal, one of the Nakai volunteers. Before he had volunteered for the Expedition, he had been a security officer over at Colony One. Vale had not counted him as part of the Security force, because he had wanted him of his team. And if G'Yal had been counted, he would have been gotten three new security instead of four. With G'Yal getting the last slot on Security Team Three, which would have left him one man short.

For the last slot, Vale had considered putting Hailey on NR-1, but he had wanted her to command NR-2. Which was the Science Team. Her teammates were Nikita Aranov, Alexander Bennet and Alec Colson. Next came Security Team One, which - led by Major Teldy - doubled as NR-3. Security Team Two – which was Grogan's team – doubled as NR-4. This was why he had asked Mackenzie for a third security team. That way, he could deploy both NR-3 and NR-4 if he had to, while still having Security Team Three aboard the ship.

Finally, NR-5 was the Resource Team. Lead by Hetty McConnell, it included Andrea Jones and two New Asurans, Claus and Frank. Both of the New Asurans were botanists. NR-5's job was to make sure that the ship had plenty of water, food, air and medicines. (By overseeing several operations on the ship and collecting things off-world.) It was not a very glorious duty, but it was key to their long-term survival.

The door opened and the rest of NR-1 one came in. They had salvaged the doors from the airlock. One had been installed in the Gate Room, so that it would be easier to secure the place if they needed to. The other was installed in the Infirmary, so that the quarantine room could be sealed airtight. (In fact, they had used it in a make-shift airlock of their own.) Porter and G'Yal were discussing the mission as they approached. Patterson locked the door behind them.

"So." Porter said. "Are we flying or walking ?"

"Walking. The oasis is not that far." Vale said. "Everybody ready to go ?"

There were nods and they walked through the Gate.


	20. Chapter 19

**3 – E2B-178**

(E2B-178 – Near the Stargate – Day 8, 0922)

As G'Yal had expected, the planet was hot. But that was not what was on his mind. He was still surprised that Colonel Vale had asked him to be on his team. He was walking next to the Colonel, his weapon ready. The Tau'ri had given him a projectile weapon called a MP5SD. It included a device which removed the noise that normally resulted from firing it. He would never admit it, but he was actually quite proud of this sign of trust.

"E2B-178 ?" He asked. (He was speaking into his radio, which included a translator.) "Who named this world ?"

"The computer. Apparently it's some kind of translation of the coordinates of this planet."

"Colonel….may I ask you something ?"

"You want to know why you are on this team ?"

"Yes, sir." He paused. "Some of the crew said that I was a…token alien ? They also mentioned two people called Teyla and Teal'c, who are apparently other aliens and also on SG-teams. So…"

"…you thought you should ask." Vale said with a smile. "That is why you are here. You're not a token alien, G'Yal. You're good with a gun and you're not afraid to ask or give your opinion. I've learned the hard way that you need at least one soldier like that. Back when I was still a Roman soldier in training, we followed order without asking questions and it ended badly." He paused. "I was away, delivering a message to another unit. They were ambushed by a group of robbers and wiped out. Since then, I ask questions."

"I see." He looked at the desert. "You think anybody lives here ?"

"There are no footprints. So if they do, they haven't been to this part of the planet for a while."

They continued to walk. It took about twelve minutes for them to reach the oasis. (Major Hailey had given him a Tau'ri wristwatch and told him how to read it.) There was a small puddle, which was surrounded by some grass and six palm trees. But no animals or footprints. G'Yal took a pair of binoculars out his backpack and scanned the horizon. He spotted four more oases.

"If there is nobody here, we could send NR-5 to collect as much water as possible. The Puddle Jumper should be able to carry a good amount." He paused. "Does that mean that it would actually be puddle jumping ?"

Patterson moaned and shook her head at the pun. Suddenly, Vale's radio came to life.

=/\=Hailey to Vale.=/\= Hailey said. =/\=We've had a development here.=/\=

"Vale here." He said into the radio. "What's happening over there ?"

=/\=The count-down clock just popped up.=/\= Hailey said. =/\=It's at forty-two minutes and counting down."

As part of their programming to keep their mission going, _Destiny's_ and _Spera's _AI's both limited the time the crew could spend on a planet. On board _Destiny_, there were countdown clocks throughout the ship. But aboard _Spera_, there had not been a single countdown clock in sight. Hailey had suspected that _Spera_ actually used existing displays to show the clock. Also, she believed that the AI had apparently needed time to adjust to the presence of its new crew. And from what he had just heard, she had been right.

"We've found several oases with water." Vale began. "Tell NR-5 to take Jumper One and bring the supply of jerrycans."

=/\=Yes, sir.=/\= Hailey said. =/\=Hailey out.=/\=

The radio went dead and Vale turned to Porter. "It will take them a couple of minutes to gear up and get here. Let's start testing this water for poisons, bacteria and anything else that could kill us."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Porter said as she put down her bag. "Even if the tests are all negatives, I still want to sterilize it and run it through all the filters in water reclamation system, just to be sure."

"We'll do." Vale said.

Porter set to testing the water. While she did that, Patterson sat down next to one of the palm trees. G'Yal then sat down next to her. "So, what is your homeland like ?"

"Wet. It rains a lot where I come from." She leaned towards him. "May I give you a piece of advice, G'Yal ?" He nodded his approval. "Stop trying to bond so much. These things simply takes time."

"How are the tests coming, Doc ?" Vale asked as he sat next to Patterson on the other side.

"So far, so good." Porter said. "I've already got a few negatives."

"What about the trees ?" G'Yal said. "Could they be of some use ?" He paused. "And is it me, or do they look at little too….normal ? We have trees called E'Rall trees that look just like that. I know that this is my first mission, but shouldn't alien trees be more…alien ?"

"We call them palm trees on Earth." Vale said. "And I'm afraid that some things are kind of universal. Including trees. As for using it, the wood is simply too soft."

"How do you know things like that ?"

"Homework. I read a lot of mission reports while we were on-route to the Hope Galaxy." Vale said. "We have people on translating several of key reports into Ursini and Nakai. So you have some in your future as well."

"Yes, sir."

Then Vale's radio came to life and McConnell announced that NR-5 had just come through the Gate.

(Spera – Mess Hall – Day 8, 1105)

The mission to the planet had gone smoothly. They had collected a lot of water and come back with three minutes to spare. When the clock had hit zero, the ship had jumped back into FTL. G'Yal was writing up his report on the mission in the Mess Hall. (It was the only room in the Wraith expansion of _Spera_ which was finished.) He was writing it on a Nakai computer – the Tau'ri would have called it a laptop – which was writing the report in Nakai, Ursini and English at the same time. (He simply wrote the report in Nakai, while the machine did the rest.) He had just finished when Jennifer Hailey approached the table he was sitting at. She was carrying a tray of food.

"Lunch ?" G'Yal asked.

"Yes." Hailey said. "Report ?"

"Done." He closed the laptop. "But this mission was not really that exciting. We came, we collected, we went."

"Trust me. Enjoy it while it lasts." Hailey leaned forward. "Sooner or later, trouble will find us. And when it does, you will miss these 'boring' missions. Before I was at the Beta Site, I spent several years on a SG-Team. My team got into a lot of trouble and whenever we did, I really missed the quiet missions."

"So, what on the menu today ?"

"Tuna sandwich with milk and an energy bar."

"Milk ?" G'Yal frowned. "What is milk ?"

"You've never heard of milk ?" Hailey looked at him in surprise. Then she explained about cows and how they gave milk. "Didn't you have livestock on Colony One ?"

"No, we had heard about it. There was some kind of livestock back in Nakai Home Galaxy, but none of them were brought along when the planets were colonized. And we never did find anything like livestock on any of the worlds we visited in our galaxy." He shook his head in surprise. "Tau'ri drink cow juice."

"Yes, we do." Hailey said with a smile.

G'Yal got up and went to get himself some food. Cow juice, this he had to try…. As G'Yal went to collect his lunch, he did not notice Aranov and Colson watching from another table. The two of them had overheard the entire conversation. (They had already finished their lunch and were now working on their reports on the Wraith expansion.)

"What do you think it will be like ?" Aranov said. "Going through the Stargate for the first time, I mean ?"

"You've been through the Gate several times by now, Nick." He leaned forward. "And you've studied alien artifacts before. You'll do fine."

"Thanks." Aranov said. "But I still think it will be very different than anything we have done before. And considering what we have been through to get to this ship, I think that's saying something."

"Good point."

"Speaking of different. I thought that our FTL-drive needed at least three hours of cooldown time between jumps ?" Aranov said. "But we jumped out and then back in less than an hour."

"_Destiny_ needs three hours of cooldown time. But from what I've managed to wrestle out of the database, she has a Mark 2 FTL-drive. The basic technical data on _Spera_ says she has a Mark 3 FTL-drive."

"So, the new and improved model ?"

"I hope so." Colson said. "Because if we run into those berserker drones, we'll need every edge we can get. So…" He got his feet. "…back to digging in the database."

"Good luck."

The two of them headed out. As they walked out of the room, they passed G'Yal, who was busy vomiting into a nearby trash can. Apparently, Nakai and milk did not mix.

(Spera – Bridge – Day 8, 1657)

Jennifer Hailey leaned back in the command chair. Vale had covered the 0800-1600 shift. Since she was the second-in-command, it was her job to lead the 1600-Midnight shift. The job of leading the last shift – Midnight to 0800 – had fallen to Major Teldy. Since she was the only other Major aboard and Chief of Security, Teldy was the third-in-command. When Vale or Hailey was off-world, she would be the acting XO. She looked at the clock. Vale had ordered her to drop the ship out of FTL at 1700 hours exactly. Hailey got up and walked up to the Forward Helm Station, where Patterson was flying the ship.

"Drop us out of FTL and then check the Wraith expansion for damage."

"Yes, ma'am." Patterson said, before dropping the ship out of FTL. "No damage reports. _Spera_ has apparently totally adjusted to the Wraith expansion, ma'am."

"Ma'am." Henderson said as he approached the chair from the rear section of the room. "I got the numbers on the FTL-drive." He handed her a piece paper. "The minimum cooldown time is forty-five minutes, that is the big upgrade of this engine over the _Destiny_'s model. But the minimum amount of time in FTL is still four hours, ma'am. Shut them down earlier and you damage them."

"Nice work." She gave him back the paper.

"Actually, it was Alec who did most of the work." Henderson said. "And I've got some diagnostics to run, ma'am." And with that, he walked back to the rear of bridge.

"Porter, how many Gates do we have in range ?"

"Three." Porter said. "But one of them is locked out." She hit several keys. "From the readings, I believe that the planet used to be habitual. But there have been numerous volcanic eruptions since the gate was put there. The sulfur percentage went through the roof and now the atmosphere is toxic. And we don't have any spacesuits…." Those had been lost with _Nova Roma_. "…so that is a big, fat no."

"What's behind Gate one and two ?"

"Gate one…." She hit some keys. "….is on an ice planet. It's a small island in the middle of a frozen lake. The atmosphere is breathable, so we could send NR-5 on another water trip if they use the Puddle Jumper. Gate two…." She hit more keys. "….is on a green planet. The seed ship spotted grass and trees, but no life-forms bigger than bacteria. I recommend we send a team to collect as much wood as possible. And that they should wear hazmat gear. I have a feeling that we don't want any of those bacteria on board."

"For the record, why didn't we wear hazmat gear on our mission ?" Patterson asked.

"E2B-178 was a desert, the bacteria count was way lower." Hailey said. "Tell NR-5 to gear up for a trip to the ice planet with Jumper One and NR-3 will get us some wood." She looked at the countdown clock, which was at three hours and seven minutes. "And tell them that are cleared to use Jumper Two."

"Yes, ma'am."

Patterson grabbed her radio and began contacting people.


	21. Chapter 20

**4 – Two Days Later**

(Spera – Gate Room – Day 10, 0800)

Colson put the plank against the wooden beam and hammered a nail through it. NR-3 had managed to bring back an impressive amount of wood. Because there had been nowhere else to store them, they had put all of the trees in the corridor. It had then been a race to turn the trees into lumber. If the wood dried out, it would crack and become useless. So it had been all hands on deck to get it done. And the crew had pulled together and done just that.

Of course, the wood had been just half the equation. To attach it, they needed nails. It was here that the biggest surprise had come. It turned out that Claus and Frank – who were on board as botanists – were actually both blacksmiths as well. Frank had explained that the New Asurans believed that one of things was holding them back as a race, was that they did not have personal things. And that had included hobbies. So they had decided to change that. Frank and Claus had both found that they were fond of working with metal.

They had gotten the metal they needed by dismantling the railings of the spiral staircases that connected the decks. These had then been replaced by wooden rails, which – ironically – turned out to be stronger than the original ones. It was not the first time that Alec had noticed that the Ancients had been kind of cheap when building _Spera_. In their infinite arrogance, the Ancients had apparently presumed that the main ship would hold together and they would never need the back-up. Fortunately, Alec already had an idea for an upgrade or two. But those would have to wait.

There were enough planks and nails to upgrade all the walls on board. This was because they were also using glue to connect planks to the beams. The nails were there to make sure that the planks didn't come off if the glue failed. Alec was currently working in the Gate Room. He was putting up the planks, while G'Yal and Hailey were painting the wood. There had been some pondering about which color they should use. In the end, they had decided to go for white. They had brought some colored paint with them, but the cans were small. The plan had been to use that paint to make door signs and markings. But white paint was relatively easy to make. So they had. He had just finished securing another plank when Teldy came in.

"So, how is our little DIY project coming ?"

"We're on schedule." Colson said. "So what are you thinking of this little upgrade ?"

"I think Colonel Vale is doing some old-fashioned team building." Teldy began. "He's got this whole Captain America thing going, after all."

"I saw that movie. Rogers was only frozen for seventy years. Vale was in stasis for over two-thousand years." He glued another plank in place. "I wonder if that's part of why he was able to adapt. I mean, if it's a short hop, there are things from before left. But in the colonel's case….he had to start from scratch, so to speak. Maybe it's easier."

"Well, I'm not going to ask him. And I hope never to find out from first-hand experience."

"Me neither." He said. "Now, care to help me with these planks ?"

"You got it."

Teldy nodded and the two of them got busy with the next plank. Neither of them had noticed Vale, who had been watching from the corridor. He had overheard the whole conversation.

"Captain America, not bad." He said with a grin. "Better him then Tony Stark."

He reached the staircase and headed for the Bridge. There was work to be done.

(Spera – Bridge – Day 10, 1035)

T'Zalo had dropped _Spera _out of FTL. This was the third stop in this Galaxy. And that was not good news. The original estimate had been that they would get eight or nine stops. But the last two days, all the planets had passed had been harsh and low on resources. And what had been there, had not been useful. So they had not send teams to any of them. They had dropped out now, because there was a world with where they would be able to stock up on water. Vale stood next to Porter, who was manning one of the science consoles.

"Any other Gates in range ?"

"No." Porter said. "And this one is barely in range."

"What do you think ?" Vale asked. "How many more stops ?"

"I've been studying the telemetry from the seed ships and it is not good." She hit several keys and a short list appeared. "Two planets. The rest of them have poisonous atmospheres, extreme temperatures and other fun and exciting prices. We really need spacesuits."

"Alas, we don't have any," Vale said as he looked at the telemetry. "What about the hazmat gear? Can we modify it to handle some of the circumstances on these planets?" ~The temperatures thing looks like the easiest to handle.~ They might be able to put together some kind of cooling system.

"Well…temperature would be the easiest modification…" Vale snickered at that. "….and if we use the Puddle Jumper, we might be able to send a team to E4X-281 to collect several boxes worth of limestone. But that's it."

"I'll take what I can get. How long until we get to 281?"

"It'll be our last stop in this galaxy. We have six hours to collect water here, then its three days to stop number two. I have no idea how long that stop will be, but after that we'll have one day until we reach 281." Porter paused. "So, at least four days. Which should be more then enough time to modify the suits."

"Excellent. In the meantime, I'll get this water collection going."

Porter nodded, while Vale activated his radio and began organizing the mission.

(Spera – Bridge – Day 23, 0938)

_Spera_ had passed E4X-281 and was now on its way to edge of the galaxy. The water collection mission had brought as much water as possible, with the main water tank having been loaded to capacity. Stop number two had been at a planet where they had collected several eatable plants for the hydroponics bay. Then they had reached 281 and picked up a huge stash of limestone. But now came the hard part. _Spera_ had begun shutting down everything but the bare necessities. And now, she was mere minutes away from leaving Galaxy Delta Alpha. So Vale had ordered the bridge fully manned.

~Hope for the best, plan for the worst.~ Vale thought as he sat down in the command chair. T'Zalo and Patterson were on the flight controls, while Hailey and Porter covered the science consoles. Finally, G'Yal was on tactical and Colson was leading things at the engineering stations in the back. Major Teldy had asked Vale to put G'Yal on tactical, so that she could run a final check on some things. Which was why she was not on the bridge now. Vale leaned forward.

"Time?" He said.

"Three minutes," T'Zalo began. "And the course plotting program is running. We should know how long the crossing will take soon, sir."

"Excellent," Vale said as Major Teldy walked in. "Everything secured, Major?"

"Yes, sir. Everything checked out."

"Good." Vale said as he stood up. He could see that the clock on T'Zalo's console turning from white to red. ~Less than a minute.~ The color change had been in a report from Doctor Rush. "Here we go, people."

"Thirty seconds," T'Zalo said. "Twenty….ten…five, four, three, two, one…zero." The lights dimmed and most of the consoles went dark. "Flight controls just went dark, Colonel. The ship is now on auto-pilot, sir. We should reach Galaxy Destiny One in…" T'Zalo hit several keys. "…Two weeks, sir."

"What about the other consoles?"

"All the weapons are off-line and shields have been dialed down to minimal power." G'Yal said.

"Our long-range sensors are off-line and short-range units are at minimal power." Porter added. "Console one is still working, but number two is completely dark. Alec, what about the Engineering consoles?"

"All dark." Colson said.

"Well, I don't see any point at all of us staying here to stare at black screens. T'Zalo, you and me will cover the first shift. Everybody else, dismissed."

T'Zalo nodded, while the others began leaving the bridge. Vale sat at the working science console and checked the short-range sensors. They showed nothing. But Vale knew that everything was about to change. These first twenty-three days had been them settling in aboard _Spera_. When they got to Destiny One, however, they would have to get work.

This galaxy was where they had first encountered the Home Space Nakai. And they knew nothing about the chunk of Destiny One which _Destiny_ had crossed before Colonel Young and company had arrived. ~Not to mention that we still have to find Telford and his team.~ Part of him hoped that they hadn't made it to _Destiny_. They had no idea what condition the ship was in, which meant that it was potentially a death trap. ~And if it is, they'd be better off on a planet.~ Because then they would have a fighting chance. And maybe _Spera_ could find them. But first they would have to cross this void. So that was the plan.


	22. Chapter 21

**5 – Brewing Wars**

(Earth – Stargate Command, Briefing Room – 24 September 2017 / Day 30, 0945)

Hank Landry was not a happy camper. This morning, he had found a considerable mountain of paperwork on his desk. He had been getting through it at a healthy pace. Had being the operative word. Because Daniel Jackson had just come in and asked him to come the briefing room. Besides Jackson, the rest of SG-1 was sitting at the briefing room table. (Samantha Carter wasn't present. _Hammond _was on a mission to salvage the _Sun Tzu_ from the intergalactic void.)

Also there were Doctor Carolyn Lam and Richard Woolsey. But the surprise was the presence of Jeannie Miller. She was sitting at the far end of the table. As Landry sat down, President Mackenzie and General O'Neill came up the stairs from the Control Room. Landry was about to stand up, but Mackenzie gestured for him to remained seated. He and O'Neill sat down at the table.

"Sorry about the unannounced visit…" Mackenzie said. "…but Mrs. Miller asked me to come."

"I know this is a big deal. But there's been a development, Mister President. And…well….I thought you would want to hear this." Miller looked at Jackson. "Daniel?"

"We just received a report from the New Asurans. There's good news and bad. The good news is that _Spera_ is on schedule. Also, the Ursini-Nakai colonists are hard at work building their new home. It is actually ahead of schedule. That is where the good news ends," Jackson paused. "We have a major problem with Operation Supernova."

"Operation Supernova?" Vala Mal Doran asked.

"Our plan to blow up the berserker drones."

Vala nodded. She had read the file on the plan, but she had forgotten the name. The plan had been to see the Nakai drome colonies – which had upgraded into ships – ahead. Once they reached Galaxy Destiny Two, they would draw the attention of the berserker drones and their command ships. Then they would self-destruct, taking the drones with them. If Operation Supernova worked as planned, it would thin out the berserkers before _Spera_ reached their turf. But now the operation was apparently in trouble.

"Daniel?" General O'Neill said, his tone making it clear he was annoyed. "Am I going to have to shoot somebody?"

"The New Asuran Deep Space Internet Facility has detected the berserker control ships. They are no longer in Galaxy Destiny Two."

"And we're trusting the Replicators?"

"The DSI-Facility at Atlantis has confirmed it." Woolsey began. "And it gets worse. As far as we can tell. Every single command ship in existence is headed for the Nakai Home Galaxy. And…."

"…somebody has modified their hyperdrives. And based on the telemetry, they did so using knowledge of _Destiny_'s FTL-drive." Miller added.

"Could they have made the modifications by studying the FTL-drive on the seed ships?" Mackenzie asked.

"No," Miller said. "The seed ships have a Mark-One FTL drive. Even if they copied the drive exactly, it wouldn't be enough. Whoever modified the ships, increased their top speed by a sixteen-hundred percent. A Mark-One wouldn't get anywhere near that."

"So, not only is our plan kaput. Somebody has _Destiny_?" Mitchell asked.

"I'm afraid so." Woolsey said. "The New Asurans sensed that there was something wrong, so they ran a deep diagnostic on the feed from _Destiny_. They found a program inside the feed. Once they eliminated the program, they discovered that _Destiny_ is stationary. The data that _Destiny_ has been sending back….is fake."

"The only way to fake the telemetry is to install a generator program. And the only way to do that is to actually be *on* the ship." Jackson said. "So, yeah."

"What do we do?" Landry asked.

"We don't know," Miller said. "But we need a new plan."

Landry leaned back. This was indeed bad news. ~Very bad indeed.~ And nobody had discussed the elephant in the room…the Lucian Alliance. So far, the Alliance had not shown any signs of knowing about _Spera_ and her mission. But the war between Earth and the Alliance was still ongoing. So - whatever they did - they would have to be careful as they moved forward. Of course, they needed a plan first.

(Earth – Stargate Command, General Landry's Office – 24 September 2017 / Day 30, 0955)

Mackenzie had ended the meeting after Miller's announcement. The President had asked for them to take a break. Landry got the impression that the man wanted a little time to process the information. And the General couldn't blame him. Now, Landry was sitting in his office and reading Jackson and Miller's official report. There was a knock at the door and he looked up. General O'Neill walked into the room.

"Jack?"

"Hank?" O'Neill sat down across from Landry. "So, what do you think?"

"I think we have a major problem. But at least they won't catch us by surprise, which…based on this…." He closed the folder. "…was the plan."

"There's that."

"Which doesn't change the fact that we are royally screwed."

"Yeah, pretty much." O'Neill leaned back. "Got any ideas?"

"One or two."

The two of them continued their conversation, planning their next moves and considering their options. As they did so, Jeannie Miller sat in the briefing room and watched them. She had been pondering what their discovery meant. And what to do about it. She leaned back and decided that sitting here and staring at the wall wouldn't help anybody. So she got up and walked out of the room. ~I need some Jell-O~ She headed for the Mess Hall. After getting some gelatin and a sandwich, she looked for a place to sit. Much to her surprise, Mackenzie was sitting at one of the tables. He was eating a sandwich and browsing through the official report. She approached the table.

"Miss Miller, will you join me?"

"Thank you, sir," She sat down across from Mackenzie. "So, any questions?"

"Your report only says that somebody modified the command ships," Mackenzie began. "Off the record…would you care a guess as to who or whom that could be?"

"Well, whoever has _Destiny_, they know about the Nakai and their interest in the ship. And they consider them enough of a threat to attack them by proxy. But apparently attacking them directly is not an option…."

"Still, they would need some spaceships or space stations to make the modifications. And they have advanced computers. They would need them for the telemetry fraud and to reprogram the command ships."

Mackenzie browsed through the folder and took out a drawing. It was a schematic of one of the command ships. The communications relays had scanned the ship and done the math on how far the command ships could fly before they ran out of fuel. The ships would have ended up stranded between two galaxies, several hundred-thousand lightyears away from the Nakai Home Galaxy. But the scan showed that somebody had added an extra fuel-tank to the ships. Not only was the tank made from different metal then the command ships and the drones, the tanks were the exact size needed to get the Nakai Home Galaxy.

"And they would need some way to keep the drones from blowing them to pieces as they approached."

"Right, because the drones are programmed to attack anything that isn't them or their command ships," Miller said. "They would need a way around that and a detailed knowledge of the software that runs these things."

"So we're talking about an intelligent race, which has advanced technology," He paused. "How long do we have until the command ships reach their destination?"

"We're using the satellites to track their progress. If they keep moving at their current speed, they'll be there in thirty days."

Mackenzie nodded. This meant that they had some time. And there was one piece of good news. Because the communications relays were built by _Spera_. Which meant that in order to be detected by them, they had flown past the ship without stopping. ~Maybe whoever has _Destiny_, doesn't know about _Spera_. Or doesn't care.~ And they had done so before Colonel Vale and his team had arrived. ~Because otherwise, our people would have noticed.~ He wrote a note to have Vale and co check the logs. ~There might be something there.~ Of course, there was still one major question left on his list.

"Let's presume they get there, who is going to win?" And this was why this whole situation potentially was really bad news for them. Not only would _Spera_ have to face whoever had done this, there was also the potential problematic outcome of the Nakai-Drones War that would start as soon as the command ships reached the Nakai Home Galaxy. "The Nakai have only fought them once and they lost."

"Atlantis has gotten an exact count. There are two-hundred and seventeen control ships. Based on the reports, the Nakai would be in the fight of their lives. But…based on the information the Nakai Colonists gave on their Home Space….they will win. The problem is that they are in a cold war with an alien race called the Jynacko." Mackenzie nodded, he remembered that from Vale's reports.

"And if they attack the Nakai as soon as the Drone War is over. Well…based on the information we have, the Pentagon thinks that the Nakai would lose. In which case, if they also know about _Destiny_ or learn about it, we might end up trading one enemy for a worse one."

Mackenzie sighed. This meant that there was not one war brewing in the Nakai Home Galaxy, but two. And they were still fighting a war with the Lucian Alliance here in the Milky Way Galaxy. Not to mention the fact that there was a possible war waiting for _Spera_ and her crew to get _Destiny_ back.


	23. Chapter 22

**6 – What the Lucian Alliance Has Been up To**

(Outpost 7 – Commander's Office – 24 September 2017 / Day 30, 1217)

Yarnok Zinar was sitting in his office and sorting through a huge pile of paperwork and folders. Things were not going well for the Lucian Alliance. The War with the Tau'ri was still going. Several years ago, they had attempted to destroy an Tau'ri outpost called the Beta Site, only to find it had moved. They had attempted to find it again, but to no avail. And a recent attack on the Alpha Site had ended in defeat. Worse, he had just gotten a report from one of their spies.

Before, the Tau'ri had two ships in this galaxy, the _George Hammond _and the _Odyssey_. But in response to this failed attack, they had decided to salvage a third ship called the _Sun Tzu. _Furthermore, they were also building a replacement for a ship called the _Korolev_, which had been destroyed by a race called Orii. ~This will not make the bosses happy.~

Besides ship battles, there had also been dozens of ground battles between Alliance people and SG-teams. The Alliance had wiped out several SG-teams, but the Tau'ri kept replacing them. And the Tau'ri had burned several large kassa crops. Kassa was an artificial – and highly addictive – kind of corn. So far, the war had been a heated stalemate. But with these two extra vessels, the balance might shift to the Tau'ri. ~This will make the bosses the bosses *really* unhappy.~

As for Zinar, he was the Commander of Outpost 7. Outpost 7 was where the Alliance was trying to dial with ninth chevron. To do this, they had gathered a large number of reactors and several hyperdrive cores. The output was gathered in one place and then channel through several buffers containing weapons-grade naquadah, boosting it many times. The power source was far from safe. Seven years ago, it had been days from completion when they had run a test. It had resulted in an explosion that had destroyed the outpost and killed most of the people who were assigned to it.

Zinar had been against the test. He and a small group of followers had left Outpost 7 several hours before. Still, they had barely survived the detonation. As a reward for saving some of the outpost crew, he had been promoted to Commander and was made leader of the rebuilding of the Outpost. It had taken three years to remove the radiation enough to make it safe to begin construction. The original Outpost 7 had been build in a year. ~They cut too many corners the first time around. Not on my watch.~ This time around, it had taken four years. But now, it was done. ~Here we go.~ He finished cleaning up the papers and walked out of his office.

(Outpost 7 – Gate Room - 24 September 2017 / Day 30, 1225)

As he walked into the Gate Room, Zinar saw his forces getting ready. He had one-hundred-and-twenty men and women – counting himself – to secure _Destiny_ with. Then – much to his dismay – he spotted the bosses. They called themselves the Council of Senior Commanders these days. ~Blasted fools.~

Back in 2009, the Alliance had send an invasion force to _Destiny_. It had failed. And then, several months later, a faction within the Alliance had launched an attack against Earth. It had done some damage to key facilities, but not enough. So it had also been labelled a failure. After that, the Alliance Civil War had begun. It had been a struggle between several factions for dominance within the Alliance. The war had lasted for three-and-half-years and – at least in Zinar's opinion – was the reason that the Alliance had not launched an all-out attack against Earth. In the end, several Senior Commanders had been ended up running the Alliance. The next three years had been spent repairing the damage done by the war.

And six months ago, work had begun for the war against the Tau'ri to enter its next phase. First, they would take _Destiny_ and then they would launch an all-out attack against Earth. He reached his troops and his second-in-command handed him his gear and weapon. Most of the Senior Commanders were chauvinistic men, so it was hard for women to make their way up the ranks these days. So when he had needed a second-in-command, he had ignored them and given the job to a woman, regardless of what they thought. She had simply been the best candidate. Her name was Valerie Watson and she was a Captain in the Alliance.

"Ready to go, Commander."

"Very well." He turned to a technician, who was sitting at costume-build terminal that controlled the Stargate. "Dial _Destiny_."

"Yes, Commander."

The Stargate began dialing, while Zinar heard the sound of the power source slowly ramping up to full power. It was the sound of crackling electricity. He looked around the Gate Room. ~Good, loyal soldiers.~ His eyes went to the Council. The Gate Room had a lower level with a single entrance – where the force and the Gate were – and a U-shaped upper level-slash-balcony. The Council was looking at them from the upper level. ~Typical. They are away from the danger, while we get to walk into the fire.~ He looked at the Stargate, which was locking the seventh chevron now. ~Almost there.~ He checked his weapon to pass the time. But – as he expected – it was in perfect working order. Then the ninth chevron locked in place and the wormhole opened. But power source did not sound healthy.

"Okay, people..," He began. "…here we go."

He approached the event horizon-slash-puddle. ~One of the perks off being the boss is that you get to go first.~ Taking a deep breath, he stepped through the Stargate.

(Outpost 7 – Gate Room - 24 September 2017 / Day 30, 1232)

The last soldier walked through the puddle and the wormhole disengaged. Senior Commander Gerhart Zinar had done his best to hide his worry, but he didn't like this whole mission one bit. The Alliance's last attempt had ended in disaster. And the current one was being led by his younger brother Yarnok. ~He is not a fan of us either. Not that I can blame him.~ Most of the Senior Commander's were pigs. As for Gerhart, he had become a Senior Commander by being ruthless.

And he knew it. But he also knew that he had to be ruthless, because otherwise the other Senior Commanders would eliminate him in a heartbeat. Furthermore, he knew that some of the Commanders and Captains were more cut-throat then the people in charge now. And it was his job to keep them in line. ~If we don't attack Earth, we'll have another Civil War on our hands.~ He was about to leave when he heard the technician behind the dialing computer curse. He made his way down to the lower level of the Gate Room.

"What is wrong?"

"The computer was acting strangely, Commander," The technician said. "It froze for a moment, then there was an odd screen and then it…." He shrugged. "…It just went back to normal, sir."

"What do the logs say?"

"One moment, sir," The technician hit several keys and the logs appeared on the screen. "Oh, this is bad." He hit more keys. "Somebody downloaded an unknown program into the network. And it came…." He pointed at the Stargate. "…through the wormhole, Commander."

"That's impossible. Radio signals cannot cross a nine-chevron wormhole," He began. "And according to our intelligence, Colonel Young and his crew were in stasis. Even if they were not, the Tau'ri do not have the technology necessary." ~Like I said, it's impossible.~

"I don't know what to say, Commander," The man entered more commands. "The Gate Room is shielded, sir. No signals in or out. The only possible passage is the wormhole. And the logs check out, Commander. I don't….." The computer suddenly went dark. It stayed so for several seconds, but then came back to life. There was computer code running across the screen. "Crap, it's a virus!"

Gerhart grabbed the cable that connected the dialing computer to the rest of the base and pulled it out. But it was already too late. He knew this from a sharp shift in the sound made by the power source. Before he could do anything else, the blast door above the only entrance came down. ~It's in the system.~ He heard a loud click, which indicated that the door had been locked. The power source began making a really unhealthy noise. ~Time to go.~ He pulled the cable that connected the Dialing Computer to the Stargate. Then he made his way to the left side of the room and pulled a large lever. It triggered a safety mechanism that manually dialed the Gate to the nearest planet. As soon as the wormhole opened, Gerhart and the technician ran through the puddle. Two minutes later, Outpost 7 exploded for a second time.


	24. Chapter 23

**7 – Entering Destiny One**

(Spera – Bridge – Day 37, 1603)

_Spera_ had entered Galaxy Destiny One early in the morning. Vale and Teldy had commanded the first two shifts. Three minutes ago, Jennifer Hailey had relieved Teldy. She was sitting in the command chair, watching the telemetry from the sensors. ~Only one Gate in range, but its better then nothing.~ When they had begun the crossing, _Spera_ had been fully stocked. And even now, they had several weeks' worth of supplies left. But it couldn't hurt to get a lay of the land. If they were in an area where resources were scare, they would have to come up with plans to deal with it.

"Alex, drop us out of FTL."

"Yes, ma'am," Patterson said. "Dropping us out now."

The ship dropped out of FTL and the countdown clock popped into existence on several screens. ~Five hours, we'll have to be quick.~ Hailey activated her radio and contacted Colson. NR-2 was on-duty for this shift. And because Hailey was running backend from the bridge, Alison Porter would go with them instead. Colson said that he would gather the team in the Gate Room, after which he cut the channel.

Trying to distract herself, Hailey got up made her way to the forward section of the bridge. They had reconfigured the bridge during the crossing. The consoles were designed so that they could swap functions without needing any physical modifications. The two L-shaped consoles at the front of the bridge were Science One and Two now. As for the three consoles directly in front of the Command Chair, those now were now the two Flight Control stations and Tactical-slash-Communications. Tactical was in the middle, with the Flight Controls flanking it on both sides.

Hailey sat down behind Science Two and waited for the MALP telemetry to appear. It hadn't been easy, but they had managed to tap their probes into the consoles. Originally, they had only had one MALP. But in the weeks since, they had managed to put together two more. She leaned back and hoped that things were going well in the Gate Room.

(Spera – Gate Room – Day 37, 1610)

Alec Colson made sure that he had all his gear. When the roster of NR-2 had been drawn up, there had been an issue. Jennifer Hailey was a Major in the US Air Force, but the rest of the team was civilian. So setting up a chain-of-command was a problem. But NR-2 needed a second-in-command, in case Hailey wasn't available. After some discussion, Alec had gotten the job. Which meant that now, he was in charge of the team.

"Nervous?" Porter asked.

"Yes," Colson began. "It's odd. I used to run a multi-million dollar company and I never fretted. But leading a team of four people and I'm scared to death."

"Did leading that company include travelling through a wormhole and visiting a planet billions of lightyears away from home?"

"Good point." Colson said with a smile.

Xander Henderson gestured to Colson. While Colson and Porter had been talking, Henderson had dialed the Gate and send MALP One through the wormhole. Now the probe's feed was coming back to _Spera_. Colson looked at the screen. The planet was a desert. ~Just like the first planet _Destiny_'s crew visited.~ But that planet had white sands, while this planet appeared to have red sand. There were also small patches of grass scattered across the image. From what they could see, the planet orbited a single star.

"Looks like the sun is setting," Porter said.

"Okay, here we go," Colson began as he walked towards the Gate. "Weapons at the ready." ~I can't believe I just said that.~ He drew his sidearm and stepped through the Gate.

(F1Z-008 – Desert – Day 37, 1611)

Porter had been right. The sun was indeed setting. Despite this, it was still forty degrees centigrade. ~We have to be out of here before the sun rises again, or we'll be cooked alive.~ The planet was called F1Z-008 by the computer. All the planets in the previous galaxy had started with a E and the computer had apparently decided to start the names in this galaxy with a F. He scanned the area around the Gate, but there was nothing there. As he did so, the rest of the team came through the Gate and down the ramp.

"Is it me, or is it really hot here?" Aranov said.

"Nope," Bennett began. "It's really hot here. And its night now, so daytime would be really bad news from a biological point of view."

"Yeah," Colson said. "We need to get moving." ~But which way?~ He decided to keep it simple and pointed straight ahead. "For now, let's head straight. We'll take it one hill at a time."

"Sounds like a plan." Aranov said.

The team walked away from the Gate. Alec thought that – despite the heat – was actually a nice world. The desert continued as far as the eye could see. But something about it seemed off. ~What am I missing?~ He reached the top of the next hill and whistled. Standing in the middle of the sands were the remains of a small town. The hill he was standing on now was part of a ridge, which had hidden the ruins from the MALP's camera. The rest of the team joined Colson on the hill.

"Whoa," Aranov began. "Where did that come from?"

"Well, you're the archaeologist," Colson said.

"Good point," Aranov said. "Let's go take a closer look."

The team began heading towards the ruins.

(F1Z-008 – Desert, Town Ruins – Day 37, 1735)

The town did not have much technology. There was no electricity, no computers and no indoor plumbing. But they had found several printed books. They were not in the best condition, but they were still readable. The real problem, however, would be translating them. The books were not in any known alien language.

~And I doubt that these people will have heard of English or Russian.~ Aranov thought.

He was standing in the remains of a house. The place had simple, wooden furniture. Which, he wrote in his notebook, meant that the planet either had forests somewhere. Or the locals knew how to use the Gate and imported wood from off-world. Another thing the furniture made clear was that the locals were humanoid. The shapes of the items didn't make sense for none-humanoid people. Besides the books, he had also taken several candles and some of the table ware. The latter was made from metal and was dusty and rusty.

He made his way out of the house and looked around the town. There were several houses, a saloon and a stable. In the middle of the town was a large well. The stable had the remains of some kind of beast of burden. Two of them had been fitted with a saddle. Nikita took out his camera and walked into the saloon. He had already taken plenty of photos, but he wanted another look at the place. ~I wonder if there are more towns.~ He made his way to the bar and began looking for any clues.

"So, how do you like the place?" Porter said as she walked it.

"Well, we have a humanoid race. And from the looks of the place, they were at about the same level of technology as the Wild West," He paused as he spotted a piece of paper in one of the cabinets and grabbed it. "And from the looks of it…" He studied the piece of paper. "…this is not the only town they have."

He handed the piece of paper to Porter. It was a map of the region. The Stargate was marked on it, as was the town they were in now. But the map showed two more towns. There was, however, a problem. The two towns were many clicks away and it would take two hours to get there on foot. Aranov activated his radio.

"Aranov to Colson."

=/\=Colson here. What's up, Nikita?=/\=

"I've found a map with two more towns on it, but they are too far to hoof it there. We'll need one of the Jumpers if you want to get a closer look at them." And he figured it couldn't hurt to see what the Jumper's sensors made out of this place.

=/\=Sounds good to me.=/\= Colson said. =/\=I'll make the call.=/\=

The radio went silent. Nikita looked around the saloon. There was an upper floor with several rooms, which he presumed had been available for rent. While Colson made the call, he decided to take a closer look upstairs.

(Spera – Gate Room – Day 37, 1740)

Vale watched as Jumper One made its way through the Stargate. The wormhole closed two seconds later. He had overheard the conversation between Colson and Hailey, but had not spoken up. Hailey was running this shift, so he wanted her to make the call. And she had decided to send the Jumper. ~Knowing more about the locals can't hurt.~ And they still had no idea who had build the berserker drones and the command ships. ~Maybe the locals have more information on them.~ He left the Gate Room and headed for his quarters.

"You have really settled in." A female voice said.

He turned to see Octavia the Elder – well, the image of Octavia the Elder – smiling at him. The artificial intelligence that ran _Spera_ had not shown itself since they had arrived. But now it was projecting an image of his mother and walking next to him. ~This is no coincidence. We enter a new galaxy and she shows up? No, there is something going on.~

"Indeed we have," He began. "It's a bit cramped. But it's home."

"Yeah, the Ancients based me on the Seed Ships that travel ahead of _Destiny_. And as Alec suspects, they kind of build me on the cheap," She paused. "Well, except the Relay Factor on the lower decks. In their arrogance, they did indeed presume that they would never need me as an Alpha Site."

Vale nodded. _Spera_ had just confirmed their theories about herself. ~Some people would label me crazy for talking about a ship this way.~ Not that he cared. Maybe it made him a hopeless romantic, but he preferred to think of _Spera_ as a lady. And a living, breathing thing with a personality of her own. Of course, the AI made it easier to do so.

"Not that I mind a good chit-chat every now and then, but…"

"…Why am I here?" Octavia-Spera smiled. "I can see why General O'Neill put you in charge. You care about your people and you don't do nonsense. And you are right, I am not here to chit-chat." She paused. "We have just entered a new galaxy. It took _Destiny_ just a tick over a year to cross this galaxy. But more importantly, I wanted to tell you that this galaxy is not uninhabited. I can't tell you how long it will you take you to get there, but there is an area ahead which is densely populated. The problem is that I can't tell by which species. Because Colonel Young and his crew boarded after the ship passed through the area, there is no detailed information on it. Just long-range scans."

"So, besides several possible wars…" Jackson and Miller had send their findings to _Spera_ by means of the DSI-Network. Which meant the report was also in the computer's memory. "…we now have a major mystery to deal with it. And there is also the issue of who or whom built the control ships and the berserker drones. Because my instinct tells me that if we don't figure out who made those drones, it will come back to bite us in the rear."

"Sounds like a totally accurate sum of the situation to me." Octavia-Spera said. "Good luck."

And with that, she faded away. ~She'll be back.~ Vale entered his quarters. The walls had been upgraded with sheets of wood, which had been painted white. It didn't make the room any bigger, but it felt larger. He sat down on his bed and reached underneath it. First, he pulled out a wooden folding table. It wasn't very big, but it was big enough to hold the second item he pulled out. Said object was a laptop that Vale used to write his reports. He put the laptop on the table and got to work.

(Spera – Bridge – Day 37, 2104)

The clock hit zero and _Spera_ jumped back into FTL. While their first stop in this galaxy had not yielded any resources, NR-2 had brought back plenty of items from the planet and a load of questions. Aranov was hard at work turning the space between the Bridge and the Airlock into a large Science Lab, where they would try to find some answers.

And it was not the only room being set up at the moment. The rest of the rooms in the Wraith expansion had finished growing and were now being decorated for their functions. ~Like the rest of this ship, they won't be luxurious, but they will work.~ As she sat in the command chair, Hailey got the feeling that _Spera_ was more ready for whatever lay ahead then her crew. So she leaned back and waited for _Spera_ to tell her what that was.


	25. Chapter 24

**8 – Weeks Later**

(Spera – Science Lab – Day 55, 1217)

Nikita Aranov was sitting in the lab, taking notes. He was surrounded by items that _Spera_'s crew had collected from several worlds. All of them belonged to the same race as the locals from F1Z-008. While the items had told him some things, he really needed to translate their language. And that was not really happening. And he couldn't ask the rest of his team for help. The rest of NR-2, along with NR-1 and NR-5 were off-world. They were gathering ice to melt down for water.

It was the fourth mission in a larger effort to resupply the ship. Despite the fact that the hydroponics bay was now in business and hard at work growing fruits and vegetables, _Spera_ could still not feed her own crew. ~And if we get more crew, it'll be even more strained.~ And that was considering that the New Asurans didn't need to eat. The problem was that every inch of the ship was already in use. ~The Ancients really didn't design this ship for long-term habitation. Unless we missed something on the two lower decks.~

Which was possible. They had only given the place a quick look after coming aboard. ~Well, this is not going anywhere anyway.~ He put down his pen and notebook, before walking onto the bridge. Major Anne Teldy was sitting behind Flight Control One. Aranov gave her a nod as he approached.

"How are the translations going, doc?"

"They're not," Aranov began. "But there is something else I want to discuss with you."

"Let me guess, you want to talk about the food situation."

"Yes. I want to take a closer look at the two lowest decks. We only gave them a quick visit after getting here," Aranov said. "There might be a room we could turn into second hydroponics bay down there. We should check."

"Okay. But take a team and be careful."

"Yes, ma'am."

Aranov walked out and set to collecting his team.

(Spera – Deck 5, Corridor – Day 55, 1225)

Carl Grogan led the way onto deck five. He climbed down the ladder that connected it to deck four. ~So far, so good.~ The corridor was on the starboard side of the deck. It ran all the way from the bow to the stern. The right bulkhead had windows that showed space, while the left had a single set of doors. The doors were flanked by two windows, through which Grogan could see a large piece of machinery. This was as far as the crew had gone while scouting the ship.

"All clear."

T'Zalo, Nikita Aranov and Xander Henderson came down the ladder. Henderson was carrying a Geiger counter. He checked it and nodded at Grogan.

"Okay, here we go," Grogan had brought a P-90, which he now readied. "T'Zalo, ready your MP-5. Just in case."

"Yes, sir."

T'Zalo readied his weapon, while Grogan hit the button to open the door. As soon as the doors were open, he led the way into the room. They found themselves on a catwalk. He looked down and saw that there was indeed another deck underneath. As for the machinery, he realized that it was actually a launch tube. ~This must be where the relays exit the ship.~

The catwalk continued to another set of doors. It was part of a bulkhead, which had a hole in it. Said hole lined up exactly with the launch tube. Grogan pointed his P-90 in that direction and spotted a rail with claw attached to it. ~And that's how they load it.~ The claw would grab a relay and drop it into the launcher. ~So maybe…~ He opened the door and stepped through. This put him in a cargo bay full of communications relays. The devices appeared like metal cubes and were stacked all the way to the ceiling.

"Well, that explains why _Spera_ hasn't made any stops to gather resources to make relays," Aranov said. "We have enough stockpiled for the next two, maybe three crossings."

"Alas, that also means that we can't use this room for hydroponics." Henderson said.

"Let's keep going."

They made their way past the stack of relays. This revealed another door, which Grogan figured was to the last room on this deck. He opened the door and they entered the room. It had the ladder to deck six. But that was not the most interesting thing about the space. The door they had entered through, was flanked by two stasis pods. And the other walls each had four pods. This made for fourteen pods in total.

"Whoa, this is interesting." Grogan said.

"This is the same model as the ones on _Destiny_." Aranov said.

"Not exactly," T'Zalo said. "If I'm reading this right, these units are Mark 17s. According to what I've read, _Destiny_ has Mark 11s."

"Let's put a pin in that," Grogan said. ~It might come in handy for Lieutenant Johansson.~ "But for now, we need to move on to deck six." He climbed down the ladder to deck six. The room at the bottom on the ladder was the same as the one above, which meant that they now had twenty-eight pods. "Clear."

The others climbed down and he opened the next door. Passing through the door put them in a room full of robotic arms with tools attached. This was clearly where the relays were made. They crossed the room to find a large teleporter was poised over a conveyor belt. The teleporter was how _Spera_ collected the resources needed for the relays. ~Great, but it means that is room is also a bust.~ Which meant that there was only one place left. ~Under the launcher or nothing.~ Beyond the teleporter was the set of doors to the last room.

"Here we go," Grogan said, before pushing the button.

The doors opened to reveal….a hydroponics bay. There were no plants or soil in the room, but plenty of planters. And the room ran the full length of the launcher, which made it six times the size of the current hydroponics bay.

"Whoa," Grogan said.

"Double whoa," T'Zalo added.

"Am I the only one who thinks that this a really weird place for a hydroponics bay?" Henderson said.

"Yeah, there's probably a story behind that," Aranov said. "I'll do some digging."

The team gave the room one last look, then headed out.

(Spera – Science Lab – Day 60, 1342)

Nikita had used the Ancient communications stones to arrange for some digging in the Ancient database over at _Atlantis_. Doctor Radek Zelenka had provided them with a file about an Ancient scientist called Ajax. When _Atlantis_ had been in service, it had been home to a rebel scientist called Janus. Janus had run all sorts of experiments that the Ancient political leadership had not been very happy with. He had not been alive when _Destiny_ had been build. But Ajax had been. And Ajax had very much been the Janus of his generation.

He had conducted experiments that had made him unpopular with the higher-ups. But despite this, Ajax had still managed to gather enough support to convince the leaders to build _Spera_. And he had pulled some strings to make sure that he was in charge of the ship's actual construction. And being the rebel he was, he had not build the ship according to the official blueprint. Knowing that the politicians would not inspect the whole ship in detail, he had hidden the stasis tubes and the hydroponics bay on the lower decks. He had also redesigned the bridge – which in the original design had been a closet with just a console to fly the ship – and added an airlock to deck the bridge was on.

"I like this guy," Vale said as he browsed the file on Ajax.

"I thought you would," Aranov said. "The folks on _Atlantis _have assigned a team to see if he made off-the-books modifications to _Destiny_ as well."

"Let's hope so," Vale said. "Because according to the eggheads back on Earth, the berserker drones will arrive in the Nakai Home Galaxy. And that will not be good news."

"Right, so any good news we can get is welcome," Aranov said.

"Da," Vale said with a smile. "And we really need a better name then Nakai Home Galaxy. In fact, we need better names for all these galaxies." It was at this point that Anne Teldy walked out of the bridge. "Yes, Major? Is something up?"

"There's something you should see, Colonel," She paused. "You too, doc."

Vale and Aranov followed Teldy onto the bridge. She led the way to one of the Science consoles and hit several buttons. The main display changed to show a map. At the top of the map were several white dots, representing Stargates. There was also a line of blue dots, which were the Communications Relays. But what was interesting, was a cluster of red dots that appeared to be holding position just outside the galaxy.

"Are those red dots the command ships?" Aranov said.

"They are. And we have no idea why they are holding position," Teldy said.

"Well, I'm not complaining," Vale began. "Keep an eye on them."

"Yes, sir," Teldy said.

Vale walked out of the bridge. ~We're missing something.~ But worrying about it wouldn't help. So they would simply continue working on the puzzle of finding out who or whom was behind this.

**8 – Weeks Later**

(Spera – Science Lab – Day 55, 1217)

Nikita Aranov was sitting in the lab, taking notes. He was surrounded by items that _Spera_'s crew had collected from several worlds. All of them belonged to the same race as the locals from F1Z-008. While the items had told him some things, he really needed to translate their language. And that was not really happening. And he couldn't ask the rest of his team for help. The rest of NR-2, along with NR-1 and NR-5 were off-world. They were gathering ice to melt down for water.

It was the fourth mission in a larger effort to resupply the ship. Despite the fact that the hydroponics bay was now in business and hard at work growing fruits and vegetables, _Spera_ could still not feed her own crew. ~And if we get more crew, it'll be even more strained.~ And that was considering that the New Asurans didn't need to eat. The problem was that every inch of the ship was already in use. ~The Ancients really didn't design this ship for long-term habitation. Unless we missed something on the two lower decks.~

Which was possible. They had only given the place a quick look after coming aboard. ~Well, this is not going anywhere anyway.~ He put down his pen and notebook, before walking onto the bridge. Major Anne Teldy was sitting behind Flight Control One. Aranov gave her a nod as he approached.

"How are the translations going, doc?"

"They're not," Aranov began. "But there is something else I want to discuss with you."

"Let me guess, you want to talk about the food situation."

"Yes. I want to take a closer look at the two lowest decks. We only gave them a quick visit after getting here," Aranov said. "There might be a room we could turn into second hydroponics bay down there. We should check."

"Okay. But take a team and be careful."

"Yes, ma'am."

Aranov walked out and set to collecting his team.

(Spera – Deck 5, Corridor – Day 55, 1225)

Carl Grogan led the way onto deck five. He climbed down the ladder that connected it to deck four. ~So far, so good.~ The corridor was on the starboard side of the deck. It ran all the way from the bow to the stern. The right bulkhead had windows that showed space, while the left had a single set of doors. The doors were flanked by two windows, through which Grogan could see a large piece of machinery. This was as far as the crew had gone while scouting the ship.

"All clear."

T'Zalo, Nikita Aranov and Xander Henderson came down the ladder. Henderson was carrying a Geiger counter. He checked it and nodded at Grogan.

"Okay, here we go," Grogan had brought a P-90, which he now readied. "T'Zalo, ready your MP-5. Just in case."

"Yes, sir."

T'Zalo readied his weapon, while Grogan hit the button to open the door. As soon as the doors were open, he led the way into the room. They found themselves on a catwalk. He looked down and saw that there was indeed another deck underneath. As for the machinery, he realized that it was actually a launch tube. ~This must be where the relays exit the ship.~

The catwalk continued to another set of doors. It was part of a bulkhead, which had a hole in it. Said hole lined up exactly with the launch tube. Grogan pointed his P-90 in that direction and spotted a rail with claw attached to it. ~And that's how they load it.~ The claw would grab a relay and drop it into the launcher. ~So maybe…~ He opened the door and stepped through. This put him in a cargo bay full of communications relays. The devices appeared like metal cubes and were stacked all the way to the ceiling.

"Well, that explains why _Spera_ hasn't made any stops to gather resources to make relays," Aranov said. "We have enough stockpiled for the next two, maybe three crossings."

"Alas, that also means that we can't use this room for hydroponics." Henderson said.

"Let's keep going."

They made their way past the stack of relays. This revealed another door, which Grogan figured was to the last room on this deck. He opened the door and they entered the room. It had the ladder to deck six. But that was not the most interesting thing about the space. The door they had entered through, was flanked by two stasis pods. And the other walls each had four pods. This made for fourteen pods in total.

"Whoa, this is interesting." Grogan said.

"This is the same model as the ones on _Destiny_." Aranov said.

"Not exactly," T'Zalo said. "If I'm reading this right, these units are Mark 17s. According to what I've read, _Destiny_ has Mark 11s."

"Let's put a pin in that," Grogan said. ~It might come in handy for Lieutenant Johansson.~ "But for now, we need to move on to deck six." He climbed down the ladder to deck six. The room at the bottom on the ladder was the same as the one above, which meant that they now had twenty-eight pods. "Clear."

The others climbed down and he opened the next door. Passing through the door put them in a room full of robotic arms with tools attached. This was clearly where the relays were made. They crossed the room to find a large teleporter was poised over a conveyor belt. The teleporter was how _Spera_ collected the resources needed for the relays. ~Great, but it means that is room is also a bust.~ Which meant that there was only one place left. ~Under the launcher or nothing.~ Beyond the teleporter was the set of doors to the last room.

"Here we go," Grogan said, before pushing the button.

The doors opened to reveal….a hydroponics bay. There were no plants or soil in the room, but plenty of planters. And the room ran the full length of the launcher, which made it six times the size of the current hydroponics bay.

"Whoa," Grogan said.

"Double whoa," T'Zalo added.

"Am I the only one who thinks that this a really weird place for a hydroponics bay?" Henderson said.

"Yeah, there's probably a story behind that," Aranov said. "I'll do some digging."

The team gave the room one last look, then headed out.

(Spera – Science Lab – Day 60, 1342)

Nikita had used the Ancient communications stones to arrange for some digging in the Ancient database over at _Atlantis_. Doctor Radek Zelenka had provided them with a file about an Ancient scientist called Ajax. When _Atlantis_ had been in service, it had been home to a rebel scientist called Janus. Janus had run all sorts of experiments that the Ancient political leadership had not been very happy with. He had not been alive when _Destiny_ had been build. But Ajax had been. And Ajax had very much been the Janus of his generation.

He had conducted experiments that had made him unpopular with the higher-ups. But despite this, Ajax had still managed to gather enough support to convince the leaders to build _Spera_. And he had pulled some strings to make sure that he was in charge of the ship's actual construction. And being the rebel he was, he had not build the ship according to the official blueprint. Knowing that the politicians would not inspect the whole ship in detail, he had hidden the stasis tubes and the hydroponics bay on the lower decks. He had also redesigned the bridge – which in the original design had been a closet with just a console to fly the ship – and added an airlock to deck the bridge was on.

"I like this guy," Vale said as he browsed the file on Ajax.

"I thought you would," Aranov said. "The folks on _Atlantis _have assigned a team to see if he made off-the-books modifications to _Destiny_ as well."

"Let's hope so," Vale said. "Because according to the eggheads back on Earth, the berserker drones will arrive in the Nakai Home Galaxy. And that will not be good news."

"Right, so any good news we can get is welcome," Aranov said.

"Da," Vale said with a smile. "And we really need a better name then Nakai Home Galaxy. In fact, we need better names for all these galaxies." It was at this point that Anne Teldy walked out of the bridge. "Yes, Major? Is something up?"

"There's something you should see, Colonel," She paused. "You too, doc."

Vale and Aranov followed Teldy onto the bridge. She led the way to one of the Science consoles and hit several buttons. The main display changed to show a map. At the top of the map were several white dots, representing Stargates. There was also a line of blue dots, which were the Communications Relays. But what was interesting, was a cluster of red dots that appeared to be holding position just outside the galaxy.

"Are those red dots the command ships?" Aranov said.

"They are. And we have no idea why they are holding position," Teldy said.

"Well, I'm not complaining," Vale began. "Keep an eye on them."

"Yes, sir," Teldy said.

Vale walked out of the bridge. ~We're missing something.~ But worrying about it wouldn't help. So they would simply continue working on the puzzle of finding out who or whom was behind this.


	26. Chapter 25

**9 – Picking up the Pieces**

(Lucian Alliance Homeworld – Hall of the Council – Day 61, 1107)

It had been weeks since Outpost 7 had been destroyed. Gerhart Zinar had spent those weeks dealing with major unrest within the Alliance. There had been several battles between hostiles factions, along with two dozen assassinations. There had also been three rebellions by locals whom wanted the Alliance off their planets. It had taken major muscle flexing to get everybody back in line. In fact, one of the rebel planets had actually been lost to the Alliance. But that was actually working in Zinar's favor. He could use losing the planet and all the unrest as an excuse to delay the attack on Earth.

"No, no, no!" He was yelling at several Commanders who were gathered in the Hall. "I want three motherships in orbit of Outpost 7 until the examination of the wreckage is done! We are not taking any chances! Is that clear!?" The commanders nodded that they understood. "Now, get out, all of you!"

The Commanders walked out, while Zinar sat at a large table in the center of the room. ~Idiots.~ They wanted to go on the offensive against Earth, while they knew nothing about whoever had destroyed the base. For all they knew, destroying the Outpost was just the beginning of whatever they had planned. He needed the analysis of the wreckage before he made his next move. ~If it was Earth, which I doubt, attacking them would be a serious mistake.~ And that meant that there was nothing to do, but wait. So that was exactly what he would do.

(Beta Site – Gate Room – Day 65 / 29 October 2017, 0800)

General Jack O'Neill was standing in the middle of a beehive of activity. People were moving boxes into the Gate Room, filing in paperwork and talking amongst themselves. In the back of the room, several technicians were working on the circuits that controlled the Gate. O'Neill had beamed down from the _Odyssey_ two minutes ago. He was up to speed with the reports, but had wanted to see the progress first hand. The Base Commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Gabrielle Sobel, walked into the Gate Room.

Sobel had first come to the SGC's attention when _Atlantis_ had encountered an alternate universe version of the _Daedalus_. While Colonel John Sheppard and his team had explored the ship, they had found a log entry recorded by an alternate version of Sobel. That version of Sobel had been the commander of the _Daedalus_. But the Gabrielle Sobel of this universe had not been part of the Stargate Program at this point. After Telford and Vale had both lead their respective expedition teams away from the Beta Site, it had needed a new Commander. And Sobel had all the right skills. So she had been recruited into the program.

"General," Sobel began. "Welcome to the Beta Site."

"So, is this a sign that you are ready to go?" O'Neill said, while gesturing towards the people around them.

"Yes, sir," Sobel began. "Reinforcement Unit One is ready to go. As is the Planet Nineteen Site Construction Team," She paused. "We've also been making improvements to the power source. The final diagnostic is running now. It should finish in about an hour, sir."

"So, how about a tour?"

"Yes, sir," Sobel said. "Also, we've got a pool going on what the name of the Planet Nineteen outpost is going to be."

"Really?" O'Neill said with a smirk.

The two of them walked out of the Gate Room. O'Neill got a feeling that this was going to be an interesting tour.

(Beta Site – Gate Room – Day 65 / 29 October 2017, 0915)

Major Frank Levine looked at the Stargate and took a deep breath. He had served on _Atlantis_ for several years, where he had flown Puddle Jumpers. Then, several weeks ago, he had been transferred to the Beta Site to lead Reinforcement Unit One. And now, the time to leave had come. The diagnostic had finished and the override program had been loaded. Colonel Sobel gave the order to begin the dialing sequence.

~If you had told me that I would be assigned to fly a spaceship several billion lightyears from home, I would have called you crazy.~ And even weirder, he would be working for a Colonel who had previously worked for Roman Empire. ~On the other hand, Colonel Sheppard would say that it's just another day in outer space.~ He had barely completed the thought when the ninth chevron locked and the wormhole opened.

"Here we go," Levine said.

He took a deep breath and stepped through the puddle. His team followed and seven seconds later, the wormhole disengaged. Over in the Control Room, General O'Neill had watched them go. He turned to Sobel.

"So, how long before we can send the Construction Team?"

"Two hours, sir. The power source needs to cool down, otherwise we risk blowing up the base."

"Yeah, that would be bad," O'Neill said. "So, what exactly will they be building?"

Sobel turned to a large monitor that was mounted on a nearby wall. There was a keyboard underneath, which she used to enter several commands. The monitor changed to show a blueprint of the planned outposts. There was a ground level made out of Quonset huts and tents. The tents were Deployable Rapid Assembly Shelters. DRASH'es were special military tents that came with air-conditioning and electrical power. Underneath each structure was a fallout shelter. These would be connected by a corridor to form a second level. The base would have a staff of sixty, plus three SG-teams of four people each. The blueprint was labelled Planet Nineteen Outpost.

"The Outpost really needs a better name," O'Neill said.

The look on Sobel's face made it clear that she agreed with him.

(Spera – Bridge – Day 65 / 29 October 2017, 1030)

The first thing Frank Levine had done was settle into his tiny quarters. After that, Major Teldy had given the new arrivals a tour of the ship. And now he was walking into his new place of work. ~Well, when I'm not out flying Puddle Jumpers.~ To fly a Jumper, you need the Ancient gene. Alas, that gene that only occurred in humans. And it was pretty rare. ~So we figured out how to give people the gene artificially.~ But that method only worked on humans. This meant that only the humans could fly the two Jumpers they had.

The reason he was thinking about all of this, was Sergeant T'Zalo. The Ursini had been the Chief Pilot until his arrival. He wanted to treat T'Zalo like just one of the crew, but the fact that he could not fly the Puddle Jumpers was not helping with that. ~Counting T'Zalo and Alex Patterson, there are eight pilots now.~ And only one of those was not human. He reached the Helm Console.

"Sir?" T'Zalo said.

"Sarge," Levine said. "How is our girl doing?"

"Sailing smoothly, sir. No alarms, no problems and we are not due to drop out of FTL for another two hours, sir."

"Excellent," Levine paused. "Look, I know this whole thing is…..awkward. But I just want you to know that I think you did a terrific job as Chief Pilot. So, carry on."

"Yes, sir."

Levine walked out of the bridge, confident that _Spera_ was in good hands.

(Lucian Alliance Homeworld – Hall of the Council – Day 75, 0800)

The analysis of the wreckage was finally done. And that meant that Zinar had run out of time. The Alliance was a powder keg ready to burst. And it was aimed at Earth. ~This is not going to end well.~ Earth had finished their repairs on the _Sun Tzu_ and the _George Hammond_ had returned home. Together with the _Odyssey_, this meant that the planet was defended by three warships. But the real defenses of Earth were its friends.

The Tau'ri had had spent the last couple of years rebuilding their ties with the Free Jaffa and Tok'ra. The Tau'ri Alliance – as it was unofficially being called – had fallen apart during the last years of the Goa'uld Empire. And the war with the Ori had damaged the relationships even further.

But that had been years ago. And things had changed a lot since then. If the Alliance attacked Earth, they would destroy all life on the planet. And then the Free Jaffa and Tok'ra would avenge the loss by launching a full-scale attack against the Lucian Alliance. The Alliance would end up fighting a war it would probably not win. And even if it did win, the Alliance would be badly damaged. ~But if I don't attack, they will kill me and then start a new civil war.~ And both scenarios would end with the Alliance in flames.

~Doomed if you do, doomed if you don't.~ The Fleet was holding position, waiting for the final order. He stood up from the meeting table he had been sitting at and walked across the room. There was a transmission console there, which he activated. The console showed a map with the Fleet and Earth's solar system. He hit the proper buttons and opened a channel to all the ships. He gave the order to attack and watched as the ships began to move.


	27. Chapter 26

**10 – The Alliance Attacks Earth**

(George Hammond – Bridge - Day 75, 0807)

Sam Carter watched as the Lucian Alliance fleet approached. There were eight-seven Ha'tak-class motherships and eleven Cheops-class warships. There were also hundreds of Al'kesh bombers, many armed Tel'tak cargo ships and lots, lots of Deathgliders. All Earth had was three BC-304 class ships. The _Apollo_ and _Daedalus_ were not here. Homeworld Command had learned about the attack yesterday. But the two ships were three weeks away from Earth.

"Two minutes to weapons range, ma'am," Kevin Marks said.

"Shields at full strength," Dave Kleinman said. "_Odyssey_ and _Sun Tzu_ are in position, ma'am."

"F-302's?" Carter asked.

"All fighters have been deployed," Marks said. Each BC-304 carried sixteen F-302's. "And the squadrons from Earth are approaching." Earth had was home to four squadrons of F-302's, each sixteen fighters strong. So in total, there were one-hundred and twelve fighters against thousands of Deathgliders. "They will enter weapons range in thirty seconds."

"One minute until the fleet enters weapons range."

The Alliance fleet entered weapons range. All three Tau'ri ships bobbed and weaved, doing their best to avoid the rain of incoming weapons fire. At the same time, they fired everything they had, destroying as much targets as they could. The F-302's soon joined in, hitting all the dozens of Deathgliders with missiles. But it was not enough. There were simply too many enemy ships.

"Shields down to sixty percent!" Marks yelled.

"Maintain fire!" Carter ordered.

Carter knew that her crew was doing the best they could, but she also knew that it would not enough. ~Come on, Jack. Time to test the Point Seven.~ Back in 2004, SG-1 had found an Ancient outpost in Antarctica. Besides leading Earth to _Atlantis_, that outpost had also been home to Ancient weapons simply known as drones. Those drones were control by special chair that – very unoriginal – was called a Control Chair. Then, in 2009, the Control Chair had been destroyed by an enemy called the Wraith.

It had rendered Earth's supply of drones useless. But after finding out about the pending attack, Earth had pressed the Mark Zero Point Seven into service. After the Lucian Alliance attack of 2010, Stargate Command and the Atlantis Expedition had begun trying to build their own version of the control chair. The 2010 version had been called the Mark Zero Point One or Point One. The Point Seven was the latest attempt. The problem was that even if it worked, Earth's supply of drones was not that big.

"Shields are dropping fast!" Kleinman said. "We need…."

That was as far as he got before several yellow lights flashed by outside the window. ~Drones.~ The lights hit a nearby Al'kesh, which exploded. More lights followed and more ships exploded. It was enough to give the _George Hammond_ a breather, and Marks used the relief to hit the nearest ship with everything the ship could muster. It exploded under the barrage.

"Shields are down to eleven percent!" Kleinman said. "The hull is taking heavy damage. Several of the ships have entered weapons range of Earth. They're about to open fire, ma'am."

"Ma'am," Marks began. "We have more incoming, they're about to…"

The new ships were the same designs as the Alliance fleet. But instead of shooting at the Tau'ri ships, they attacked the Alliance vessels. Kleinman's console beeped. Carter could see the main display of his station and realized that the newcomers had just transmitted Friend of Foe signals. Their ID-codes identified them as Free Jaffa vessels. Stargate Command had asked both the Free Jaffa and the Tok'ra for help. Both had promised to send every ship they had in range. And both had. Because the Free Jaffa vessel had barely been ID'ed, when a small fleet of Tok'ra ships appeared and also joined the fray. Alas, it was that this point that the drones stopped coming.

~The drones ran out.~

"Shields are down!" Marks said.

"Evasive maneuvers. Keep firing!"

This was the end of the line and they all knew it. _George Hammond_ was surrounded by enemy ships and taking heavy damage. _Odyssey_ and _Sun Tzu_ were in the same situation. And all three ships were giving as good as they had got. The friendly ships and remaining F-302's were fighting for all they were worth, trying to break through.

~Goodbye.~

She was about to order a ramming course at the nearest ship, when a nearby area of space lit up with the light of a spaceship dropping out of hyperspace. Two seconds later, another ship followed. Carter looked at Kleinman's console and frowned. ~_Apollo_ and _Daedalus_? That's impossible.~ Yet, somehow, the two ships were here. They opened fire and launched their F-302's. Before Carter could respond to the development, several areas of the space around the battle wrinkled. When the effect was over, six satellites were hovering just outside the war zone. They cut loose with blue beam weapons.

The satellites made quick work of the Lucian Alliance fleet. Then they went dormant. ~What the…~ Carter got to her feet and made her way to a nearby console. She ran a scan of the satellites and frowned. The device appeared to be Ancient in origin, which was impossible. Unless… ~Something has changed, something big.~

(Lucian Alliance Homeworld – Hall of the Council – Day 75, 0930)

Gerhart Zinar couldn't believe what he had just seen. The whole attack fleet had been wiped out. One moment they had been on the edge of victory, but then things had turned against them. ~Those satellites looked Ancient, but that is impossible.~ The Ancients were extinct. But… ~It would explain what happened to Outpost 7.~ But it seemed totally out of character for the species. They had fought wars, but never began them.

And Alliance Intelligence was not helping them either. The Tau'ri had very effectively clamped down on security. For the past three years, there was zero information on Earth's attempts to dial the ninth chevron. If they had somehow had managed to contact a group of unknown Ancients thanks to _Destiny_, Intelligence had no proof of it. ~Something is about to come knocking on our door. Time to start preparing.~ He activated the communications console and began giving orders.

(Planet One – New Asuran Senate Chamber – Day 59 of the Spera Expedition, 0800)

Galaxies away and days earlier, Yorick – first of the New Asurans – walked into the Senate Chamber. His people were in control of eighteen planets in what they called the Hope Galaxy. Besides their own worlds, there was also Planet Nineteen. This was the new home of the Nakai Colonists and the Ursini survivors. It was also where Earth was planning to build an outpost. But change was in the air. After learning about the berserker drones and that they were headed for the Nakai Home Galaxy….

Well, the New Asuran Senate had debated their current stance on other species. And it had been heated. That had been twenty eight days ago. And things had been tense in the Senate ever since. Said Senate had eighteen members, one for each planet. After the debate, they had voted on ending the isolation of the New Asurans. There had been eleven votes against and seven in favor. But the debate had resumed after that vote.

"May I?"

There were nods and the two senators sat down. The Senate Chamber had been one of the first buildings to go up on Planet One. So it was a simple brick building, lit by candles and oil lamps. It was heated by a fire underneath the floor. He took his shoes off and moved to the center of the room. ~Here we go.~

"Ladies and gentlemen of the Senate, it has been weeks since the arrival of the _Nova Roma_ in our galaxy…" The ship had ambushed by the Nakai and so badly damaged that it had needed to be scuttled. "….and the birth of civilization on Planet Nineteen. But now we are approaching another major junction in our history. Tomorrow, the command ships will reach the Nakai Home Galaxy." He paused.

"So, we have a decision to make. Will we continue to isolate ourselves? Or will we chose a new destiny? When we arrived here, thousands of years ago, we went into isolation. We did so to bolster our numbers so that, one day, we could have numbers to defend ourselves from Oberoth and our brethren. And perhaps the Ancients." He leaned on the table that the Senators were sitting at.

"We no longer have that excuse to hide behind. Our brethren and gone and the Ancients…" He snorted. "The Ancients don't care. They feel interacting with us is beneath them. Are we like that? Are we that arrogant? The time of isolation is over." He paused. "In six days, I am leaving for the Milky Way Galaxy. And I will dedicate myself to making it better. The question is….. how many of you will come with me?"

And with that said, he walked out of the Senate Chamber. The moment the doors closed behind him, the Senators erupted into heated arguing again. They would no doubt considering not telling the general population. But Yorick had planned ahead. He reached into a pocket of his suit and took out the transmitted he had carried into the meeting. ~Transmitted every word.~ In the end, it wouldn't matter what the Senate would what. The people would decide.

(George Hammond– Bridge – Day 95, 1211)

It had been twenty days since the attack on Earth. The repairs to _George Hammond_ had been completed two hours ago. _Odyssey _and _Sun Tzu_ had been relaunched yesterday. And now all three ships were on a shakedown cruise together. As for the _Apollo_ and _Daedalu_s, they had been sent on a mission. After the battle, the satellites had turned and begun flying away from Earth at sub-light speeds. The two ships had followed them, while running more scans.

Alas, as soon as they had passed Mars, the satellites had self-destructed. The two ships had then gone looking for clues for where they had come from. The formation had flown to the debris field near Mars and was now running scans on what little was left. Sam Carter was standing at one of the bridge consoles and checking the readings. As she did, she thought back to the debriefing of Colonel Caldwell and Colonel Ellis.

_Apollo_ and _Daedalus_ had been headed for Earth at maximum speed. Then an alien sphere had appeared above each ship. They had emitted a particle field, which had boosted the speed of the vessels. But that really confused her was that – just before they had arrived at Earth – the two spheres had flown away and self-destructed. ~Somebody really doesn't want to leave anything behind.~ But interesting thing was that the energy signatures of those spheres were also Ancient.

~Or Asuran.~ The first time that option had been brought up had been mere minutes after the attack. But there was no way to tell Ancient and Asuran technology apart. And there had not been a peep from the New Asurans since the news of the Command Ships had come through. She was about start a new scan when her console beeped. An _Aurora_-class battleship had just dropped out of hyperspace. Carter ran a scan of the vessel. The computer identified it as the _Tria_. Next, the computer spit out that there were five people on board. And all five were Asuran. Then the _Tria_ send out a transmission.

(Tria – Bridge – Day 95, 1215)

As Yorick had expected, the Senate had indeed tried to hide his ultimatum. And the people had heard the transmission, leading to them threating to launch an all-out rebellion. So the Senate had yielded. Ever since they had met the Tau'ri, Yorick had been studying the recent history of the Milky Way Galaxy. And that was when he had learned about the Protected Planets Treaty. The Asgard had formerly protected twenty seven worlds from the Goa'uld. Eventually, the Asgard had gone extinct and the Goa'uld Empire had collapsed.

As for what had happened to the planets after Treaty had been dissolved… Only two of them – Earth and Galar – had advanced technology to defend themselves. And the Lucian Alliance had taken over the twenty-fours others. The only planet that they had not taken was known as BP6-3Q1 or Svoriin. This was because the planet was infested by giant bugs that infected people and rewrote their DNA. They had wiped out the locals.

Two days after his ultimatum, the dust had settled and Senate had asked him what his plan was. It has at this time that he had told them about the Treaty. Yorick had announced that he intended to end the war between the Tau'ri and the Lucian Alliance. And he intended to do so by reinstating the Protected Planets Treaty.

The next nine days had been spent preparing the people and ships for travel. There had, however, been one major concern. The people on Planet Nineteen. Some believed that while going to the Milky Way was the right thing to do, they could not abandon their allies in the Hope Galaxy. And so, Yorick and the Senate had given them permission to stay behind. Of the twenty-seven billion New Asurans, twenty-one million had chosen to do so. They had joined the Nakai and Ursini on Planet Nineteen, which they had renamed Hope Prime.

And on day seventy of the Spera Expedition, the rest of the New Asurans had left the Hope Galaxy for the Milky Way. The trip had taken _Nova Roma_ several weeks. And Ancient _Aurora_-class ships were slower than the costume-build vessel. But the New Asurans had spend their time in the New Hope Galaxy well. Their _Aurora_-class ships were faster than the Ancient versions. And for this trip, their Hyperdrives had been boosted by the installation of Zero-Point Modules. The whole trip would take fifteen days.

While the ships would carry several thousands, the rest would make the trip by Stargate. Ironically, the first planet they had settled on was the one the Alliance had rejected, BP6-3Q1. Because New Asurans lacked DNA, they were immune to the bugs. And they had made quick work of them. It had been the first of eighteen worlds to be settled. But not the last. And the New Asurans had been smart about it. They had picked planets that nobody cared about. And so, nobody in the Milky Way Galaxy had known about their arrival.

But when the DSI Facility on Hope Prime had received Intelligence on the pending attack on Earth, they had decided to act. So they had seen to it that the _Apollo_ and _Daedalus_ would reach Earth in time. Next, they had deployed six weapon platforms to aid in the defense of the planet. When the fleet had arrived ten days ago, the New Asurans had been ready to go the next phase. They had scouted the twenty-four Protected Planets. And now they were ready for to make themselves known. ~Here we go.~ Yorick activated the transceiver and began speaking.


	28. Chapter 27

**11 – Ashes**

(E7X-811 – Ice Plain – Day 102, 2103)

NR-1 was walking across the nastiest, coldest plain G'Yal had ever seen. Before he had joined NR-1, that would not have meant much. But since then, he had been to plenty of alien worlds. The team had been on few missions before Major Levine and his team had arrived. After, things had kicked into high gear. The team had gone on dozens of missions, looking for resources and pieces of the archeological puzzle that Doctor Aranov was trying to put together.

"So, remind me why we're walking again?" G'Yal said.

"Because NR-2 and NR-5 are using the two Puddle Jumpers we have." Alex Patterson said.

NR-2 was studying a ruin on E5S-157, one of four other planets in range of _Spera_. And NR-5 was on E4R-225, where they were looking for edible plants. As for NR-1, they had been sending back chunks of ice. That ice was being turned into drinking water right now. Alison Porter was currently running a special scanner on the ice plain. She made sure that the water was not contaminated with anything.

"That's it for this chunk." Porter said. "The rest of the ice is loaded with contaminations."

"Time to move on." Vale said.

G'Yal pulled the collar of his coat up as high as it would go. The Tau'ri winter-gear was good. But Nakai were not a fan of the cold. Colonel Vale took the lead as they walked further away from the Gate. ~I wish NR-3 and 4 were here to back us up.~ But the two security teams were on E4Z-301. It was a harsh world with a nasty atmosphere. The reason they had gone there anyway, was because it was a place where they could get some of the things needed to make gunpowder and bullets.

"Anything?" Vale asked.

"All of this is ice contaminated." Porter said.

"How much water do we have?"

"Several hundred liters, boss. Nowhere near enough for the long term, sir."

Vale nodded and they kept going. As they did so, G'Yal wondered how far they were into this galaxy. It had been sixty-five days since they had arrived. ~And a Tau'ri year is 365 _Spera_ days.~ Which meant that – if the Spera AI had told the truth – they had 300 days ahead, just to cross this galaxy. It had taken time for him to get used to Earth days, but now he was.

Thinking of Earth, his mind drifted to the developments that had taken place halfway cross the universe. As they had announced, the New Asurans had set about restoring the Protected Planets Treaty. The Lucian Alliance had fought back, but to no avail. They had lost all twenty-four planets, along with many ships and personnel. And the whole Asuran Campaign had lasted only four days, which made it even more of a blow to the Alliance. After the Campaign had ended, they had launched a two day counterattack. Said attack had ended in even more losses for the Lucian Alliance. So, this morning, they had signed the Protected Planet Treaty.

And then they had been forced to retreat from countless worlds. Between the loses at Earth and in the Campaign, the Alliance had been decimated so badly that they didn't have enough people to secure all their worlds. The Alliance had been reduced to Lucia and seven other solar systems. As for dialing the ninth chevron, the Alliance had its hands full simply surviving. They were no longer a factor. ~And now wait for the other shoe.~ Because G'Yal's instinct was telling him that this was too easy. Alas, only time would tell.

(Lucian Alliance Homeworld – Hall of the Council – Day 105, 0817)

The Hall of the Council was no longer the Hall of the Council. Gerhart Zinar had perished in the Campaign, as had all the Commanders. And the new leaders – whom had become leaders by simply surviving this whole mess – had decided to turn the hall into a hospital. The job of running this place had fallen to Yarros Hinack. Hinack was a healer in his forties, with graying hair, Caucasian skin and brown eyes. He was working on a man with serious burns when the doors opened and Ingrid Morris walked in. Morris had been elected Mayor of Lucia City, the capital of Lucia or – as most people called it – the Lucian Alliance Homeworld.

"Is the report on the Tau'ri in ?" Hinack asked.

"Yes, and it will be the last report we will get on them." Morris began. "I've ordered all our spies back to Lucia. We need all the hands we can get." She paused. "And so far, nobody has had the guts or the brains to countermand my order."

"Let's have a look." Hinack said as took the report.

While the Tau'ri had not attacked the Alliance, they had received aid from the New Asurans. Not only had they defended Earth from the Alliance, they had given them the _Tria_, an _Aurora_-class Ancient warship. Worse, they had used their technology to complete the replacement for the _Korolev_ – a warship they had lost to the Ori – in only seven days. And now they were building another ship called the _Prometheus_, which was also a replacement for a ship lost to Ori.

~ _Apollo, Daedalus, George Hammond, Korolev, Odyssey, Prometheus_ and _Sun_ _Tzu._ That's seven Tau'ri warships, plus the _Aurora_-class _Tria_.~ It was a formidable fleet, especially since the Alliance only had five _Ha'tak_-class ships left. ~And all those are needed to defend Lucia.~ The rest of what was left of the were cargo ships, Death gliders and Al'kesh bombers. He sighed and gave the report back to Morris. The Lucian Alliance would be picking up the pieces for a long, long time.

And as if the enlarged Tau'ri fleet was not bad enough, there was also the matter of the Tok'ra and Free Jaffa Nation. Together, the two species had launched a campaign to help the worlds the Alliance had abandoned recently. The goal of their campaign was to make it impossible for the Lucian Alliance to return to these planets. And from what Hinack had heard, they were being quite successful at that. Which put the Alliance in even more hot water.

"We'll be lucky to hold on to what little territory we have left." Hinack began. "Any other bad news ?"

"Well, there's this…." She handed him another report. "…and you're not going like it."

The report was about Goa'uld activity. While the Goa'uld Empire had collapsed years ago, the Alliance still kept tabs on them. The Goa'uld were parasitic species that survived by taken over humans, suppressing the host's personality completely. And they were very evil creatures. After their Empire had fallen, most of the Goa'uld had ended up poor and destitute. Others had ended up with just a handful of followers or guards, with the luckily ones ruling a single planet. And the rest had ended up working for the Lucian Alliance.

But now the Goa'uld working for the Alliance – and had not been killed in the collapse – had begun to vanish. And so were many of the poor destitute Goa'uld. So far, the ones with followers seemed to be unaffected. But that might not last. ~Great, that's the last thing we need. Somebody trying to rebuild the Goa'uld Empire.~ If this was true, things were about to even worse. Alas, only time would tell.

(Spera – Mess Hall – Day 105 / 8 December 2017, 1532)

Things were currently quiet aboard the _Spera_. The collection missions had been successful and the ship was now well stocked. Carl Grogan was sitting in the Mess Hall and eating what passed for lunch aboard the ship. The crew was hard at work getting the two hydroponics bays growing, but it would be a while before they had enough food. So, they were eating dehydrated rations and food they had picked up along the way. ~Takes like rubber, but it's all we have.~ He washed the food down with a glass of water. As he did so, Major Frank Levine walked into the Mess Hall.

"Major." Grogan said, while standing up.

"At ease, Captain." Grogan sat down, while Levine gathered his meal and then sat at the table. "So, how are the security drills going ?"

"Good. We've managed to increase our score by thirteen points." Grogan said. "I heard you had a close call on E4Z-307 yesterday."

"Yes, one of the local volcanoes decided that it felt like erupting while we were gathering plant samples. NR-5 and I barely got out of there before the ash cloud swallowed the Stargate. On the bright side, we got all the samples we needed before it happened." He paused. "So, you think anything will happen this shift ?"

"Well, we'll find out together. We're both on bridge duty." Grogan would man Tactical One, while Levine would be at Flight Control One. "Between you and me, I hoping for…."

That was as far as he got before the intercom came to life and Major Teldy announced there was an incoming wormhole. Which Grogan knew was not good news, because the only team out off-world was NR-2 and they were not supposed to come back until sixteen-thirty. Levine and Grogan bolted from the Mess Hall, making their way to the Gate Room. When they got there, they found NR-2 in rough shape. They were covered in dust and Doctor Bennett was seeing to Jennifer Hailey, who appeared to be injured.

"Her leg is broken," Bennett began. "Captain Grogan, can you help me get her to the Infirmary ?"

"Yes, doctor."

Grogan and Bennett carried Hailey out, while Levine turned to Alec Colson. Colson was examining the MALP, which looked like it had taken a beating. ~This is not a good sign.~ NR-2 had been on a mission to E6R-103. And there had been signs that the planet had suffered some tremors recently. ~First volcanoes' and now tremors ?~ If his suspicion was true, this area of space really didn't like them.

"What happened ?"

"Turns out that the planet was less stable then we had hoped." Colson said. "There was a major quake as we headed back to the Gate."

"Did you find anything ?"

"I guess you could say that." Colson said. "There were no settlements on the surface, but we found a valley." Colson worked the MALP, which made an unhealthy grinding noise, but then began to move. "There were dozen of houses carved into walls, with wooden doors and furniture. We found some writing, in the same language as F1Z-008."

"We really need a better name for that race, other then 'the People of F1Z-008.'"

"Yes, we do." Colson began. "But for now, we have more important things to worry about."

Levine nodded in agreement. So far, the ruins they had encountered had been far apart. But there had been ruins on E4Z-307 and E5S-157 as well, which had been relatively close to one another in galactic terms. Adding this discovery on E6R-106 to the list, it painted a picture of a much more densely populated area. ~A Plain of Ashes.~ And they were going to have to cross it.


	29. Chapter 28

**12 – Patet Ex Cinere**

(Spera – Gate Room – Day 128 / 31 December 2017, 0700)

Today was the last day of 2017 and 2018 was promising to be quite the challenging year. It had been twenty-three days since they had crossed into the Plain of Ashes, that the crew had begun calling it 'Pat'. It was short for Patet Ex Cinere, which was Latin for Plain of Ashes. And that was exactly what they had found. Ruins of abandoned settlements, very little resources and signs of some kind of conflict having destroyed some to these places. And as Vale stood in the Gate Room, he didn't expect F2B-017 to be more hospitable then any of the other worlds they had visited recently.

The dialing sequence finished and the wormhole formed. As soon as it did, Jumper One took up position in front of the Gate. The MALP data on the planet hadn't told them much about what they would encounter on the other side. This was because the Stargate on F2B-017 was at the bottom of a crater that the MALP couldn't leave. It had told them that there was gravity, a breathable atmosphere and that the temperature was twenty-seven degrees centigrade.

Since they were going in with limited information and that they were still inside the Pat, Vale had assigned all five NR-Teams and both Puddle Jumpers to the mission. Major Levine would be flying Jumper One, which would carry NR-2, NR-3 and NR-5. Vale himself would fly Jumper Two, where NR-1 and NR-4 would be. As for _Spera_, Sergeant T'Zalo would be in the center seat. ~They'll be fine.~ Jumper One made its way through the Gate, while Vale made his way to Jumper Two. The two teams were ready to go, so Vale sat behind the controls and closed the rear hatch.

"Here we go, people."

He took the Jumper into the Gate Room. ~Time to thread the needle.~ Two seconds later, the Jumper came out of the wormhole on the planet. Vale pulled the small ship out of the crater, where Jumper One was waiting for them. ~Whoa, sons of Dis…~ As he saw the surface of the planet, he realized that his hunch to take all five NR-Teams had been correct. Because the planet was covered in modern city that stretched as far as he could see. And that city appeared to have been severely damaged by an attack from orbit.

"It's like we flew into Coruscant." Grogan said.

"Yeah, after the Separatists hit it with every ship they had." Vale said.

Vale took the Jumper further up. Next to him, Alison Porter was also studying the city. She realized that Vale and Grogan were right, and the ship had indeed been hit by a large number of vessels from orbit. But as she looked at the city, she noticed something odd. There were some undamaged chunks of city. And there was something else. The damaged parts of the city were expensive, fancy structures. Or at least, they looked like they had been. While the standing parts were slums.

And then she saw something that made her frown. ~Is that….~ Lying amongst the ruins was what Porter believed to be one of the attackers. There was a trail behind the vessel, indicating that it had crashed. ~After it was shot down ?~ Vale flew the Jumper closer to the wreckage for a better look. As they approached, her suspicions were confirmed. The attacker was a Command Ship. And whoever had lived here once had shot it down. The ship was filled with ragged holes from weapons fire.

"Bloody underworld…," G'Yal said.

"Did anybody else notice that the slums are still standing ?" Porter asked.

"Yeah," Patterson said. "Why would the drones do that ? I mean, it doesn't fit with what we've learned about them so far. They should have levelled the whole thing, not just certain areas."

"She's right," Porter began. "They're not programmed to be that selective. Unless…"

"Unless what ?" Patterson asked.

"Unless the programming wasn't making the selection," G'Yal said. "What if, at this point, the builders were still in control ? Maybe they were in control and choose not destroy the slums. That might also explain why we haven't found any of them before now." Porter gave him a look. "If they won the war with whoever lived here, they probably took all the Berserker Drones and Command Ships with them when it was over. And if their home was in Galaxy Destiny Two…."

"Sounds like we have a theory," Vale said. "Let's see if we can find out if it's true."

Vale activated his radio and began giving orders. Then he started looking for a place to put down the Puddle Jumpers. So far, they had been gathering breadcrumbs of this puzzle. But this might be the motherlode. And he had no intention of missing any off it. He checked his watch and saw that they had only four hours before the ship jumped back into FTL. So this was going to have to be a rush job to boot. ~Oh, well, just another day in outer space.~

(Wrecked Command Ship – Cockpit – Day 128, 0712)

Jennifer Hailey landed on her feet. It had taken some searching, but they had found an airlock into the ship. It was at the top of the ship, so they had ended up falling into the internal space. Said space was a small cockpit. There were several control panels and two chairs. One of them had a skeleton in it, which Doctor Bennett was already studying. The other chair had been empty, but Alec Colson was now using it as he studied the ship.

"How is it looking, Alec ?"

"Dead as a doornail, boss," Colson said. "We've got no power to any of the systems. I've tried re-routing, but to no avail."

"What about our dead friend here, Doctor ?"

"He looks Human, very Human," Bennett began. "But the only way to know for sure is to take him back to _Spera_. The problem is that we cannot take him with along. These bones are so fragile that they will fall apart if we try to move them. I can, however, give you a guess," He looked at Hailey. "These bones are roughly fifty-thousand years old."

"Okay, do what you can, doctor."

Hailey climbed back out of the ship. NR-5 was examining the outside of the wreck, which was overgrown by some kind of wooden vines. Hetty McConnell had cut through one of them and was studying the cross-section of the sample. McConnell looked up as Hailey climbed down from the wreck.

"Bennett found a skeleton, says its fifty-thousand years old. What do the numbers on our green friends say ?"

"The numbers don't add up. Because this vine has been growing for two-hundred years at most," McConnell said.

"How can there be such a big discrepancy ?"

"I may have an answer," A male voice said. "And it's not good news, ma'am." McConnell and Hailey turned to see Claus standing next to the wreck. "The lower section is a mess and there are several hull breaches down there. Including one right next to what I think used to be the main reactor. And if the fuel leaked out…."

"Then maybe this whole area was dosed with some kind of radiation until two-hundred years ago," McConnell said. "Could be. And if it is, then every Command Ship wreck out there could be a radiation bomb, waiting to blow up. Hence, the bad news part, I presume ?"

"Yeah. And if Doctor Bennett is right and these things are fifty-thousand years old, those bombs could be pretty fragile."

Hailey activated her radio and contacted Colonel Vale. She knew it was just a theory, but she was not going to take the chance that it was right. While NR-2 and NR-5 were examining the wreck, NR-3 and NR-4 had headed for the nearest slum. Finally, the job of looking for more crashed Command Ships had fallen to NR-1. Which was my she was contacting Vale.

(F2B-017 – Wrecked Office Building – Day 128, 0727)

Vale had listened to Hailey's theory. And from the building he had climbed, he could see seven more Command Ships wrecks. The people of this planet had put up a considerable fight against the Berserker Drones. ~And each of these ships might be a bomb. Great.~ But if they wanted answers about the builders, they would have to risk a closer look at one of them. He picked one of the wrecks and reached for his radio. But before he could activate it, he got an incoming call.

=/\=Teldy to Vale.=/\=

"Vale here."

=/\=Sir, we've made a major discovery in the slums, =/\= Teldy said. =/\=I think you should come down here.=/\=

"On our way."

He made his way down to ground level, where G'Yal and Porter were working on gathering information. Patterson was standing guard as they did so. Vale told them to head out, which they did. The office building – or what they thought was an office building – was not far from the slums. So it took them only a few minutes to reach the two other teams. As they did, Vale realized that some things were universal. The place was build out of wood, corrivated steel, plastic and repurposed garbage. Major Teldy was standing outside a large building made out of what Vale figured had once been shipping containers. ~People use whatever they can get their hands on.~

"What do we have, Major ?"

"See for yourselves," Teldy said, while gesturing towards the building. "They're inside."

Vale made his way into the container building. The building appeared to be a make-shift medical clinic. Vale counted eight beds, each with a body on them. And not a single one of the was Human. ~No way, are those..?~ He looked at the bodies and realized that they were indeed what he thought they were.

"Nakai ?" G'Yal said. "And Ursini ? Together, on one planet ? How is that possible ?" He looked around the room and then noticed that two of the bodies were neither species. Approaching the bodies, he shook his head. "And I've never seen one, but from what I learned in school, those…."

"Jynacko ?" Vale asked.

"Yes," G'Yal said.

Vale exchanged a look with Major Teldy. This planet was proving to be a game changer. ~Before, we were working on a puzzle.~ But now, they might soon end up play a game of cat-and-mouse with both the Berserkers and whoever had lived on this planet.


	30. Chapter 29

**13 – Spera Down**

(Spera – Science Lab – Day 149 / 21 January 2018, 1721)

Nikita Aranov had just finished reorganizing the science lab. It had been three weeks since they had visited F2B-017 and brought back a lot of pieces of the puzzle. In those weeks, he had managed to make some major progress in figuring out the history of three races and two galaxies. Today, he had been putting away the bits and pieces. ~We need to find some storage space, or we'll run out of place to put things.~ But for now, he had managed to scrape together enough space for the short-term. So he sat behind his laptop and began writing his report.

Alas, he was only three sentences in when Colonel Vale came in. He was followed by Alec Colson. Nikita was about to greet them, but then he noticed that they were both wearing red armbands. The armbands were Sergeant T'Zalo's idea and were used to identify people using the Ancient Communications Stones. They also had the names of the person using the stones writing on them in erasable marker. Colonel Vale was currently exchanged with President Robert Mackenzie, while Alec Colson was exchanged with General O'Neill.

"General, Mister President." He said with a nod.

"So." O'Neill said. "Rumor has it that you have a report for us."

"Well, I need to put it on paper. But I can give you the cliff notes now, sir." He hit some keys and a map appeared on his laptop. "This is the empire of destroyers, which covers Galaxy Destiny One and Destiny Two. It needed a name, so I'm calling it the Praedones Empire."

"Let me guess, Latin for empire of destroyers ?" Mackenzie asked.

"Yes. Anyway, the Praedones Empire existed about fifty-seven thousands years ago. And it has a personnel problem. Think of it as the US during World War Two. All the men are away fighting the war, so the ladies get into all sorts of jobs. Except in the case of the Empire, there aren't enough ladies to go around."

"So, what did the Empire do ?"

"Well, the Praedones are pretty good with genetics. So, they create three species to fill the holes." He hit some keys and the map was replaced by a dictionary. "Nakai means Medic, which explains how they did what they did to Chloe Armstrong. Ursini is their word for Scientist and Jynacko means Engineer. Now, we fast forward seven-thousand years and get to fifty-thousand years ago. Based on F2B-017, aka Praedones Prime, that's when things went pear-shaped."

"The Builders entered the picture."

"Yeah, and they had no intention of becoming slaves. But an Empire this big….there's no way that they match its manpower. So they have no other option but to go down the automated path. Now, there are still plenty of details about the Builder-Praedones War missing, but I think we saw how it ended. After which, the Builders pack up and go home to their own galaxy."

"So, what happened to them ?"

"That's the part we haven't figured out yet." Aranov said, while making a face.

"And all of this is relevant, how ?" O'Neill asked.

"Well, we know that somebody has taken control of the Control Ship and Drones. And based on what I've been able to puzzle together so far, the Builders just jumped to the top of the suspect list. Especially if they are worried that the Nakai are trying to replace the Praedones as the new big Empire in this part of the universe."

"I'm sorry, but I don't buy it," Mackenzie said. "I've been going over the reports on the blockade that forced _Destiny_'s crew into stasis. The Command Ships blocked every Stargate and every star_ Destiny _could use to recharge. Now, I'm no expert on galaxies and Stargates, but that would take thousand of ships. Not a meager two-hundred. And to fight a war across two galaxies ? You'd need even more."

"There's that." O'Neill said.

"And why haven't they attacked yet ? Those meager two-hundred ships have been sitting outside the Nakai Home Galaxy for months now. And nobody knows why. I'm telling you, we're missing a piece of the story," Mackenzie leaned on the table and looked at the laptop. "And I've read enough SGC reports to know that it's always the missing piece that comes back to bit you in the ass. There were thousand of those ships in 2010 and now there are only two hundred ? Where did the rest go ?"

"I don't know," Aranov said.

"Well, I think we should find out," O'Neill said. "Before, you-know…."

That was when the alarm sounded. Aranov bolted towards the bridge, with O'Neill and Mackenzie right behind him. They had just arrived when the ship dropped out of FTL. Nikita sat behind Science Station Two, which had been empty. He brought up the readings from the long-range sensors and gasped. Ahead of them was a major rift. He turned to President Mackenzie, but from the look on his face told him that he the President was no longer connected. And neither was General O'Neill.

"Guys ?"

"The connection has been severed," Vale said. "What's going on ?"

"We're heading right for a massive rift, Colonel," Aranov began. "There's no way to get away from it using sub-light drives. Because if I'm reading this right, it's a lightyear across. And, as if that isn't bad enough, it's moving towards us." He hit some keys and a count-down appeared. "We have thirty-seven seconds before it reaches us."

"FTL drive ?"

"It's off-line," Colson said from Engineering Two. "And even if it was working, I wouldn't recommend using it near that rift. We should divert everything we have to the shields. Because I have a feeling that this might be a rough ride."

"Everything except the sub-lights, we might need them for the ride," Vale said, while making his way to the Flight Control consoles. One was manned by Frank Levine, while T'Zalo was behind the other. "You can do this, boys." He activated the intercom. "All hands, brace for impact. Repeat, brace for impact."

"Twenty seconds to contact," Levine said. "T'Zalo, take control of the thrusters. We're going to have to keep her from spinning out."

"I've got them," T'Zalo said. "Ten seconds to contact."

The lights on the bridge went out, as did some of the consoles. Nikita's console was one of them, but he didn't mind. ~Alec's diverted the power.~ He could see the shields ripple as they received more power. Then the ship began to shake. He grabbed his console and counted down in his head. He reached zero and then everything went dark.

(Stargate Command – Briefing Room – Day 150 / 22 January 2018, 1200)

Robert Mackenzie plummeted into one of the chairs at the table and sighed. He had not gotten a lot of sleep since the connection with _Spera _had been severed. His advisors had told him to return to the White House, but he had refused. ~There are over a hundred people on that ship and another eighty on _Destiny_.~ And he had good people covering for him. ~They'll call me if there's a real crisis.~ So he had stayed at Stargate Command to deal with this situation.

"Damn," He said. "What a mess."

"Mister President," General Landry said as he walked into the room. "you look horrible."

"I feel horrible," Mackenzie said. "Have we found anything ?"

"No. The Deep Space Internet feed from the _Spera_ is dead," Landry said. "And the Ancient Communications Stones aren't connecting either. I'm afraid _Spera_ is down."

Mackenzie sighed. They would have to break the news to the families and friends of both crews. Because without _Spera_, there was no hope for _Destiny._


End file.
